All
daf-2 mutants thus far studied show a number of mutant defects, including constitutive dauer larva formation (Daf-c), increased adult life span (Age) and increased intrinsic thermotolerance (Itt). Some alleles also display additional defects such as reduced brood size, production of progeny long after the end of the normal egg laying period, increased death due to internal hatching, and embryonic and L1 arrest. We have characterized in detail the phenotypes resulting from 16
daf-2 alleles of which 15 are ts for Daf-c. We did this in order to a ) discover the full range of
daf-2 phenotypes and b) establish which mutant traits are correlated with which, especially with the Age trait. The 15 ts alleles fell into two groups: eight Class A alleles,
e1365,
e1368,
e1369,
e1371,
m41,
m577 and
sa193, which were Daf-c, Itt and Age; and seven Class B alleles (see below), which displayed the Class A defects and also one or more of the other defects mentioned above, plus 'dauer-like' shrinkage of the adult body, abnormal gonads and greatly reduced adult movement accompanied by coiling behavior. The ranking of severity of alleles with respect to Daf-c defined the following series, in order of increasing severity:
e1365 m579 The Class B-specific defects defined a second series:
m596 The ranking of severity with respect to the Daf-c and 15C Age defects was the same in all the Class A alleles, excluding
m41, plus the two weakest alleles of the Class B series,
m596 and
m120. Class B-specific defects are largely ts, except for
sa223, and alleles of increasing severity displayed more defects, such that the defects present in weaker mutants were almost always present in more severe mutants. For instance, all alleles resulting in greatly reduced brood sizes also showed reduced adult movement. This suggests that increasing severity in the Class B series corresponds to a progressively greater defect in a single component of
daf-2 function. Thus
daf-2 may be considered genetically bifunctional, comprised of
daf-2A and
daf-2B, such that Class A alleles are
daf-2A(-)
daf-2B(+), and Class B alleles
daf-2A(-)
daf-2B(-). Ranking of alleles with respect to severity of Itt (measured in animals raised at 15C) largely coincided with those of Daf-c and Age, with a striking exception:
m120 is wild type with respect to Itt. Thus, life span extension is possible without Itt. Conversely, the severity of Class B defects showed no correlation with Age or Daf-c phenotype. A further difference between Class A and all but the weakest Class B alleles is that in Class A mutants increases in median and maximum life span at 22.5C relative to N2 are similar, whereas in Class B mutants the increase in maximum life span is disproportionately greater. This suggests that in Class B mutant populations at 22.5C a large proportion of mortality (perhaps all?) is not due to senescence per se, but instead is the result of deleterious Class B-specific defects.
m41 was distinct from all other Class A alleles in certain respects. For example, the Daf-c phenotype was maternally rescued at 25.5C in the case of
m41 alone. Based on its Daf-c phenotype
m41 is a moderately strong allele, but it is wild type with respect to all phenotypes at 15C. This suggests that while most ts
daf-2 alleles are hypomorphic, being ts due to the temperature dependence of wild type dauer formation,
m41 may encode a thermolabile protein.