In the germlines of homozygous
mes-6 hermaphrodites from heterozygous mothers, the level and distribution of MES-3 appeared normal. The embryos from these mes mutants, which develop into sterile adults, showed normal MES-3 patterns up to the 24-cell stage. However, at later stages, the level of MES-3 in nuclei gradually diminished in
mes-6 mutant embryos. By the time of hatching, MES-3 was detected in the nuclei of the primordial germ cells, Z2 and Z3, in wild type, but was undetectable in those cells in
mes-6 L1s.