BMC
Genomic sequence of a mutant strain of Caenorhabditis elegans with an altered recombination pattern.
The original sequencing and annotation of the Caenorhabditis elegans genome along with recent advances in sequencing technology provide an exceptional opportunity for the genomic analysis of other mutant strains. Using the Illumina Genome Analyzer, we sequenced the entire genome of Rec-1, a strain that eliminates the pattern of meiotic recombination. Rec-1 was derived from ethylmethane sulfonate (EMS)-treated strains, one of which had a high level of transposable element mobility. We wanted to investigate the nature of the DNA sequence of the genome of this strain.
Our analysis of high-throughput sequencing was able to detect regions of direct repeat sequences, deletions, insertions of transposable elements, and base pair differences. A subset of sequence alterations affecting coding regions were confirmed by an independent approach using oligo array comparative genome hybridization. The major phenotype of the Rec-1 strain is an alteration in the preferred position of the meiotic recombination event with no other significant phenotypic consequences. In this study, we observed no evidence of a mutator effect at the nucleotide level attributable to the Rec-1 mutation.