Insertional Mutagenesis in C. elegans Using the Drosophila Transposon Mos1: A Method for the Rapid Identification of Mutated Genes

One benefit of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system is the ease to conduct forward genetic screens and to isolate mutants with phenotypes of interest. However, identifying the mutated genes requires positional cloning, which can be laborious and time consuming. Insertional mutagenesis with a heterologous transposon bypasses the mapping steps and expedites the process of identifying the mutated genes. The Drosophila transposon Mos1 can be mobilized in the C. elegans germline to cause mutations. Mutagenic insertions are subsequently localized within the genome using inverse polymerase chain reaction. The mutagenicity of this technique is roughly one order of magnitude lower than chemical mutagens. However, the molecular identification of the mutated genes is extremely rapid. Therefore, before using Mos1 -mediated mutagenesis, one must evaluate the trade-off between time spent screening for mutants vs time spent mapping and rescuing a mutation.