title: Cloning, sequencing, and mapping of an alpha-actinin gene from the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.
abstract: The dense-bodies in the body wall muscle of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans function to anchor the actin thin filaments to the adjacent sarcolemma. One of the major components of the dense-bodies is the actin-binding protein alpha-actinin. To facilitate a genetic analysis of alpha-actinin, we have cloned a cDNA encoding the nematode protein, identified its position on the nematode physical map, and developed a unique PCR based approach to test the position of the cloned gene relative to known genetic deletions. The peptide sequence deduced from the cDNA shows that, apart from a few exceptional regions, the nematode protein shows strong similarity to other known alpha-actinins. Its position on the genetic map shows that none of the known muscle affecting mutations identified in C. elegans are in this alpha-actinin gene. This gene has been given the name atn-1 (alpha-actinin-1).
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Barstead
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kleiman
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Waterston
mesh_terms: D000185:Actinin / Q000235:genetics*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002107:Caenorhabditis / Q000235:genetics*; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D000185:Actinin