title: Gene interactions affecting muscle organization in Caenorhabditis elegans.
abstract: Revertants of unc-15(e73)I, a paralyzed mutant with an altered muscle paramyosin, include six dominant and two recessive intragenic unc-15 revertants, two new alleles of the previously identified suppressor gene, sup-3 V, and a new suppressor designated sup-19(m210)V. The recessive intragenic unc-15 revertants exhibit novel alterations in paramyosin paracrystal structure and distribution, and these alterations are modified by interaction with unc-82(e1220)IV, another mutation that affects paramyosin. A strain containing both unc-15 and a mutation in sup-3 V that restores movement was mutagenized, and paralyzed mutants resembling unc-15 were isolated. Twenty mutations that interfere with suppression were divided into three classes (nonmuscle, sus-1, and mutations within sup-3) based on phenotype, genetic map position and dominance. The nonmuscle mutations include dumpy and uncoordinated types that have no obvious direct effect on muscle organization. Two recessive mutations define a new gene, sus-1 III. These mutations modify the unc-15(e73) phenotype to produce a severely paralyzed, dystrophic double mutant that is not suppressed by sup-3. Five semidominant, intragenic sup-3 antisuppressor mutations, one of which occurred spontaneously, restore the wild-type sup-3 phenotype of nonsuppression. However, reversion of these mutants generated no new suppressor alleles of sup-3, suggesting that the sup-3 antisuppressor alleles are not wild type but may be null alleles.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002107:Caenorhabditis / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*; D004054:Diethylstilbestrol / Q000494:pharmacology; D005020:Ethyl Methanesulfonate / Q000494:pharmacology; D005557:Formaldehyde / Q000494:pharmacology; D005796:Genes; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D005838:Genotype; D006579:Heterozygote; D009132:Muscles / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D009154:Mutation; D013489:Suppression, Genetic; D014335:Tropomyosin / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D014335:Tropomyosin; D005557:Formaldehyde; D004054:Diethylstilbestrol; D005020:Ethyl Methanesulfonate