Muscle-specific expression of a gene affecting acetylcholinesterase in the nematode caenorhabditis elegans.

We have generated C. elegans animals that carry a duplication as a free chromosome fragment bearing an ace-1+ gene in an otherwise homozygous ace-1 ace-2 genetic background. The single ace-1+ gene in these animals is responsible for coordinated animal movement and acetylcholinesterase activity in the regions of the nerve ring and ventral and dorsal nerve cords, as judged by histochemical assay. We have used other genes on the free duplication whose cell-specific expressions have already been elucidated to identify particular genetic mosaics produced by spontaneous somatic loss of the duplication. The analysis of these mosaics has led us to conclude that the synthesis of acetylcholinesterase by muscle cells is primarily responsible for the coordinated movement conferred by the ace-1+ gene.