Using the
unc-54 major myosin heavy chain gene as a scorable genetic marker, we are trying to develop a system for DNA transformation. We have cloned a 14 kb restriction fragment containing a wild-type copy of the
unc-54 gene into the yeast replicative plasmid YRp7. The
unc-54 restriction fragment is derived from genomic DNA and contains the entire coding portion of
unc-54 plus approximately 3 kb 'downstream' from the mRNA 3'-terminus and 'upstream' from the AUG translation initiation codon. The vector, YRp7, is capable of autonomous replication in yeast; we hoped that it would behave similiarly in C. We micro-injected this plasmid (YRp7(
unc-54)) into a distal arm of the gonad of
unc-54(
el301);
nuc-1(
el392) hermaphrodites.
el301 is a recessive, temperature-sensitive allele of
unc-54;
el301 animals are wild-type when grown at 17 but are paralyzed when grown at 25 Animals to be injected were grown at 17 and were therefore phenotypically wild-type. We successfully injected fourteen hermaphrodites; in each case, we verified that the injected gonad arm continued to produce zygotes. We grew the Fl progeny at a permissive temperature, and shifted the F2 progeny to 25 as eggs. We screened the F2 and F3 progeny for phenotypic transformants. No animals were isolated that showed a stably-inherited improvement in motility. We grew the populations for an additional generationr extracted DNA, and analyzed it by Southern blot hybridization. Most DNA samples contain no detectable traces of the injected plasmid. However, DNA prepared from two populations are exceptional: each contains sequences homologous to YRp7. We do not fully understand the nature of these hybridizing sequences. Rearrangement of the injected DNA seems to have occured, since the junction fragments (they hybridize both to
unc-54 and to YRp7 probes) are of an unexpec size. It is unclear whether this rearrangement occured after inject or, alternatively, whether a minor component of the injected plasmid DNA was preferentially replicated. We shall continue to analyze the nature of these 'transformants'. We are also cloning the
unc-54 gene into a variety of other molecules that we hope will prove to be useful transformation vectors for c.