Skip to main content
PMC home page
Genetics logoLink to Genetics
. 1984 Nov;108(3):545–558. doi: 10.1093/genetics/108.3.545

Mutants with Altered Ca2+-Channel Properties in PARAMECIUM TETRAURELIA: Isolation, Characterization and Genetic Analysis

Robert D Hinrichsen 1,2, Yoshiro Saimi 1,2, Ching Kung 1,2
PMCID: PMC1202424  PMID: 6094305

Abstract

Dancers are a group of mutants in Paramecium tetraurelia whose Ca2+ current inactivates poorly and are likely to be defective in the structure of their Ca2+ channels. These mutants show prolonged backward swimming in response to K+ and Ba 2+ in the medium and were selected by this property in a galvanotactic trough. The dancer mutants are semidominant, and all isolated mutants belong to one complementation group; they are not allelic to any of the previously isolated behavioral mutants of P. tetraurelia. The phenotypic change from the homozygous parent to heterozygous F1 generation takes three to five fissions. There is no evidence of a cytoplasmic factor capable of converting the dancer to the wild-type phenotype, as has been demonstrated in the mutants pawn and cnr. We suggest that the dancer locus is a structural gene for the Ca2+ channel.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (830.9 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Chakrabarti S., Streisinger G., Singer F., Walker C. Frequency of gamma-Ray Induced Specific Locus and Recessive Lethal Mutations in Mature Germ Cells of the Zebrafish, BRACHYDANIO RERIO. Genetics. 1983 Jan;103(1):109–123. doi: 10.1093/genetics/103.1.109. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Eckert R., Brehm P. Ionic mechanisms of excitation in Paramecium. Annu Rev Biophys Bioeng. 1979;8:353–383. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bb.08.060179.002033. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Haga N., Hiwatashi K. A soluble gene product controlling membrane excitability in Paramecium. Cell Biol Int Rep. 1982 Mar;6(3):295–300. doi: 10.1016/0309-1651(82)90082-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Haga N., Saimi Y., Takahashi M., Kung C. Intra- and interspecific complementation of membrane-inexcitable mutants of Paramecium. J Cell Biol. 1983 Aug;97(2):378–382. doi: 10.1083/jcb.97.2.378. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Hall J. C. Genetics of the nervous system in Drosophila. Q Rev Biophys. 1982 May;15(2):223–479. doi: 10.1017/s0033583500004844. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Hinrichsen R. D., Saimi Y. A mutation that alters properties of the calcium channel in Paramecium tetraurelia. J Physiol. 1984 Jun;351:397–410. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1984.sp015252. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Kung C. Genic mutants with altered system of excitation in Paramecium aurelia. II. Mutagenesis, screening and genetic analysis of the mutants. Genetics. 1971 Sep;69(1):29–45. doi: 10.1093/genetics/69.1.29. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Naitoh Y., Eckert R. Ionic mechanisms controlling behavioral responses of paramecium to mechanical stimulation. Science. 1969 May 23;164(3882):963–965. doi: 10.1126/science.164.3882.963. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Saimi Y., Hinrichsen R. D., Forte M., Kung C. Mutant analysis shows that the Ca2+-induced K+ current shuts off one type of excitation in Paramecium. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Aug;80(16):5112–5116. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.16.5112. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. van Houten J., Chang S. Y., Kung C. Genetic analyses of "paranoiac" mutants of Paramecium tetraurelia. Genetics. 1977 May;86(1):113–120. doi: 10.1093/genetics/86.1.113. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Genetics are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES