Worm Breeder's Gazette 7(1): 59
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.
Using the technique of cytological hybridization described here a year ago, I have analyzed RNA's complementary to three cloned DNA's from C. elegans genomic libraries: collagen, actin, and myosin. The collagen probe hybridizes specifically to the dorsal and ventral hypodermal cells in the adult. Collagen messages cannot be detected in the ovary or in early embryos. They are observed in later embryos beginning at 2 to 3 hours after the 2-cell stage at 25 C; their time of appearance corresponds to that of poly-A-containing message as determined by Hecht et al. (Devel. Biol. 83:374, 1981). Due to the conservation of actin coding sequences, the actin probe hybridizes to transcripts for muscle and cytoplasmic actins. Cytological hybridizations show that actin messages are abundant in the ovary and are stored in the egg as maternal RNAs. Additional expression occurs during embryogenesis and in adult body-wall muscle, pharynx, and spermatheca. In contrast with the actin probe, the myosin clone hybridizes primarily to transcripts of the myosin gene expressed in body-wall muscle. There is little cross-hybridization to other myosin transcripts. The most intense hybridization occurs in muscles, while little hybridization is seen in the intestine or ovary. In addition, the myosin probe does not hybridize to early embryos, but does hybridize strongly to older embryos undergoing morphogenesis and differentiation.