Figure 2. The main heritable determinant(s) of germline mortality in the prg-1(−) mutant are extra-nuclear.
(A) The effect of transferring wildtype ooplasm to a near-sterile prg-1(−) lineage. Top panel. Schematic of the transfer. Near-sterile prg-1(−) males were mated with wildtype hermaphrodites overexpressing GPR-1 (GPR-1(OE)); cross progeny with prg-1(+) AB/ prg-1(−) P1 genotype, were selected at the L4 stage based on fluorescent reporters. The “non-mendelian” inheritance pattern leads to maintenance of the prg-1(−) genotype in subsequent generations. Bottom panel. Proportion of fertile prg-1(−) lines after GPR-1(OE)-mediated transfer of wildtype ooplasm. Kaplain-Meier plot for the parental prg-1(−) lines (black line, n=15), and the above cross’ progeny (grey lines, 4 independent experiments, n=6, 6, 6 and 7). Note that 1 of the 4 crosses yields progeny with extended transgenerational fertility (hatched line, Log-rank test versus parental prg-1(−): **p <01).
See also Figure S2A.
(B) The effect of transferring ooplasm from a near-sterile prg-1(−) lineage to a first generation PRG-1(−) lineage. Top panel. Schematic of the transfer. AID::prg-1 males were crossed with near-sterile AID::prg-1 (+ auxin); GPR-1(OE) hermaphrodites on auxin plates. Cross progeny resulting from a PRG-1(−) oocyte fertilized with a G1 auxin-treated AID::prg-1 sperm were picked based on fluorescent markers. Subsequent generations were grown on auxin plates to maintain the AID::PRG-1(−) phenotype. Bottom panel. Proportion of fertile AID::prg-1 lines after GPR-1(OE)-mediated transfer of near-sterile AID::prg-1 (+ auxin) ooplasm. Kaplin-Meier plot for the above cross’ progeny (red lines, 2 independent experiments with n=14 for solid line and n=11 for hatched line) and a control cross with G1 auxin-treated AID::prg-1 hermaphrodites (black line, n= 12). Statistics: Log-rank test, experimental versus control (**p <.01 for both), and experimental versus prg-1(−) in Figure 2A (**p<0.01 for both).
See also Figure S2B–C.