Genetics, Vol. 157, 655-666, February 2001, Copyright © 2001

Genetic Mapping of Quantitative Trait Loci Governing Longevity of Caenorhabditis elegans in Recombinant-Inbred Progeny of a Bergerac-BO x RC301 Interstrain Cross

Srinivas Ayyadevaraa, Rajani Ayyadevarab, Sen Houb, John J. Thadenb, and Robert J. Shmookler Reisa,b,c
a Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas 72205
b Departments of Geriatrics and Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas 72205
c Central Arkansas Veterans Health Care System, Little Rock, Arkansas 72205

Corresponding author: Robert J. Shmookler Reis, J. L. McClellan Veterans Medical Ctr., Research-151, 4300 West 7th St., Little Rock, AR 72205., reisrobertjs{at}exchange.uams.edu (E-mail)

Communicating editor: T. F. C. MACKAY

Recombinant-inbred populations, generated from a cross between Caenorhabditis elegans strains Bergerac-BO and RC301, were used to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) affecting nematode longevity. Genotypes of young controls and longevity-selected worms (the last-surviving 1% from a synchronously aged population) were assessed at dimorphic transposon-specific markers by multiplex polymerase chain reaction. The power of genetic mapping was enhanced, in a novel experimental design, through map expansion by accrual of recombinations over several generations, internally controlled longevity selection from a genetically heterogeneous, homozygous population, and selective genotyping of extremely long-lived worms. Analysis of individual markers indicated seven life-span QTL, situated near markers on chromosomes I (tcbn2), III (stP127), IV (stP13), V (stP6, stP23, and stP128), and X (stP41). These loci were corroborated, and mapped with increased precision, by nonparametric interval mapping—which supported all loci implicated by single-marker analysis. In addition, a life-span QTL on chromosome II (stP100-stP196), was significant only by interval mapping. Congenic lines were constructed for the longevity QTL on chromosomes III and X, by backcrossing the Bergerac-BO QTL allele into an RC301 background with selection for flanking markers. Survival data for these lines demonstrated consistent and significant effects of each QTL on life span.




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