Transcript levels are highest in adult worms and in embryos. Some accumulation also occurs in the L4 larval stage, but
mes-2 transcript is greatly reduced in earlier larval stages.
mes-2 transcript is severely reduced (4% of wild type) in worms that essentially lack a germline, but is present in worms that have a germline, regardless of the sex of the germline (66% to 85% of wild type).