Hello! Why is him-5 the him of choice when studying male mating behavior? Is this just historical? Is there any issue in using him-8(me4)? I ask because I already crossed my mutation into this background to study behavior (him-5 is nearish on the same chromosome). Is there a him that would be preferred to him-8? Thanks for any advice!
Evan
I’m not offhand familiar with the me4 allele, but either him-5 or him-8 should be fine. Other mutations causing a Him phenotype (that I’m aware of) cause other abnormalities and so should not be used.
Between him-5 and him-8 you’re usually OK, though it’s a pain when you want to balance something with nT1. If you want to build the double mutant with him-5, you might look for useful multiply marked versions of the chromosome, so that you can combine your mutation with him-5 by three-point recombination before losing the second visible marker; unless I misremember, I found a rol-4 him-5 unc-76 chromosome useful.