BISC 219/F10: Lab 2 Mutant Hunt

Wellesley College BISC 219 Genetics

Home     People/Info     Lab Calendars/Weekly Planner     OWW Basics     Resources       Glossary
Series1:Sex-linked or Autosomal        Series2:Classical (Forward) Genetics        Series3: Reverse Genetics Using RNAi
       Worm Info     Assignments

Mutant Hunting

To Do Today (per group)

Choose one of the six plates of "mutagenized" worms at the front of the room
Scan the “mutagenized” worms on this plate for visible dumpy mutants
Transfer 1 putative dpy mutant hermaphrodite to each of three new plates. Take care not to transfer any other animals or eggs other than your putative mutant.
Label these 3 identical plates with the hermaphrodite mutant's strain information and your group's information (team color, initials, lab day, date). Use your BLUE Sharpie for labeling these linkage analysis plates.
Put an elastic around the three linkage determination plates. Place them in your group's plastic box (make sure your box is labeled with your names and lab section on a piece of your team color tape).
Place your box on the shelf in the incubator for your lab section.
Incubate your worms at 23°C for 3 days.

3 Days After Lab

Examine your three plates containing your dpy worms from the mutant hunt and their F1 progeny. Are all the worms on the plates the dpy phenotype? If YES, then start a cross between 4 of these F1 dpy L4 hermaphrodites (should still have the vulval clearing about 1/2 way down the body of the worm) and 3-4 wild type male worms. You will have to search to find the N2 male worms among the hermaphrodites in the N2 plates provided on the bench on the right side near the sink. Note that if you don't have all dumpy mutants in the F1 generation of your cross, you should not use that plate to select worms for the next cross. If none of your 3 plates contains all dumpy mutants email your instructor ASAP!
If you have an appropriate plate for continuing the next cross: Set up two identical mating plates with 3-4 L4 hermaphrodites and 3-4 wild type males.
Label these identical plates with the hermaphrodite mutant's strain information and your group's information including the date. Use your BLUE Sharpie for labeling these linkage analysis/mapping plates.
Incubate your worms at 23°C until next lab period.