Large transgene arrays modulate a phenotype of myrf-1 in C. elegans [DNA-Seq]

Many have been in use for decades, as they are convenient tools for assaying gene expression and as cell fate reporters. Here, we show a synthetic phenotype of a multicopy molt reporter array and a missense allele, myrf-1(mg412), which was previously reported to cause a heterochronic phenotype, an additional molt in adulthood.

This synthetic phenotype is due to the size or composition of the transgene. We demonstrate that additional multicopy arrays also cause synthetic phenotypes with myrf-1(mg412). Finally, using Nanopore long read sequencing, we show that additional integrated arrays all exceed the size of 6 Mb, comprising a large fraction of the nematode genome.