A Caenorhabditis elegans RNA polymerase II gene, ama-1 IV, and nearby essential genes.

The amanitin-binding subunit of RNA polymerase II in Caenorhabditis elegans is encoded by the ama-1 gene, located approximately 0.05 map unit to the right of dpy-13 IV. Using the amanitin-resistant ama-1(m118) strain as a parent, we have isolated amanitin-sensitive mutants that carry recessive-lethal ama-1 alleles. Of the six ethyl methanesulfonate-induced mutants examined, two are arrested late in embryogenesis. One of these is a large deficiency, mDf9, but the second may be a novel point mutation. The four other mutants are hypomorphs, and presumably produce altered RNA polymerase II enzymes with some residual function. Two of these mutants develop into sterile adults at 20 degrees but are arrested as larvae at 25 degrees, and two others are fertile at 20 degrees and sterile at 25 degrees. Temperature-shift experiments performed with the adult sterile mutant, ama-1(m118m238ts), have revealed a temperature-sensitive period that begins late in gonadogenesis and is centered around the initiation of egg-laying. Postembryonic development at 25 degrees is slowed by 30%. By contrast, the amanitin-resistant allele of ama-1 has very little effect on developmental rate or fertility. We have identified 15 essential genes in an interval of 4.5 map units surrounding ama-1, as well as four gamma-ray-induced deficiencies and two duplications that include the ama-1 gene. The larger duplication, mDp1, may include the entire left arm of chromosome IV, and it recombines with the normal homologue at a low frequency. The smallest deficiency, mDf10, complements all but three identified genes: let-278, dpy-13 and ama-1, which define an interval of only 0.1 map unit. The terminal phenotype of mDf10 homozygotes is developmental arrest during the first larval stage, suggesting that there is sufficient maternal RNA polymerase II to complete embryonic development.