Worm Breeder's Gazette 2(2): 35b

These abstracts should not be cited in bibliographies. Material contained herein should be treated as personal communication and should be cited as such only with the consent of the author.

Choline Acetyltransferase from C. elegans

J. Rand, D. Russell

Using a newly designed biphasic liquid-extraction assay, we have 
been examining choline acetyltransferase (CAT), the enzyme which 
synthesizes acetylcholine, in C.  elegans.  Studies have so far 
emphasized stabilizing the enzyme and identifying its multiple 
molecular forms in the wild-type, and studying 2 mutants with very low 
levels of CAT activity.  One of these mutants, tcf-1 was isolated in 
David Hirsh's lab as being resistant to trichlorfon.  It is extremely 
uncoordinated and slow-growing, and has <2% of the wild-type CAT level.
Another mutant, DH 103, isolated at Caltech, has<3% of the wild-type 
activity, yet is almost without apparent behavioral abnormality.