Hey experts,
I’m looking for an X-linked Unc strain with particular characteristics.
- It should not move around at all, so that if I place the worms on one side of a plate they’ll stay on that side for days.
- Hermaphrodites should be capable of mating with wild-type males and producing a reasonable number of progeny.
- It should be fully recessive.
Can anyone recommend a particular strain for this purpose?
The uncs on the X chromosome are unc-1, -2, -3, -6, -7, -9, -10, -18, -27, -58, -78, -84, -96, -97, -98, and -115.
Thanks for any advice,
Matt
None of the recessive Unc’s on X that I’ve used (offhand, unc-2, unc-3, unc-6, unc-9, unc-18, unc-20, and pag-3) are so Unc as to remain essentially motionless for long periods, let alone days, though I’m unsure about the less-stringent criterion of remaining in the same part of the plate for days (of those, from my recollections, you might start by trying unc-2, unc-3, and unc-18).
The only really motionless Unc I can recall seeing on the X - and this is just from fortuitous experience, I have not attempted a survey - is twk-18(cn110). It can be very Unc, but brood size may be an issue and it is not recessive.
It may be possible that double mutants - between two recessive Uncs or even between an Unc and a Dpy - may result in a strain sufficiently motionless for your purposes.
Sorry I can’t be more helpful. Still, as long as I’m responding, I’ll throw out one rather unusual, and certainly complicated, approach that you might perhaps keep in mind, at least as something of a last resort, if you’re set on using an X-linked marker and no-one can name a really good recessive option. This approach is to use a Him strain, either him-4 or him-5. Because these strains generate oocytes lacking an X chromosome, mating into them generates a reasonable proportion - though not even close to a high proportion - of progeny whose only X chromosome comes from their father. If you need the motile F1 cross progeny to be self-fertile, this can be done using a her-1 mutation - although note that the male used in the mating would have to either be heterozygous for her-1 or homozygous for both her-1 and, say, tra-2(q276).