Genetic Analysis of Flagellar Length Control in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: A New Long-Flagella Locus and Extragenic Suppressor Mutations

Corresponding author: Catherine M. Asleson, Department of Plant Biology, 220 BioScience Center, University of Minnesota, 1445 Gortner Ave., St. Paul, MN 55108, cathy{at}cbs.umn.edu (E-mail).

Communicating editor: V. G. FINNERTY

Flagellar length in the biflagellate alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is under constant and tight regulation. A number of mutants with defects in flagellar length control have been previously identified. Mutations in the three long-flagella (lf ) loci result in flagella that are up to three times longer than wild-type length. In this article, we describe the isolation of long-flagellar mutants caused by mutations in a new LF locus, LF4. lf4 mutations were shown to be epistatic to lf1, while lf 2 was found to be epistatic to lf4 with regard to the flagellar regeneration defect. Mutations in lf4 were able to suppress the synthetic flagella-less phenotype of the lf1, lf 2 double mutant. In addition, we have isolated four extragenic suppressor mutations that suppress the long-flagella phenotype of lf1, lf 2, or lf3 double mutants.

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