Allele: one of several alternative forms of a gene occupying a given locus on a chromosome, such as zyg-1(oj-7), zyg-1(it4). (Genes V, p.1235)

C. elegans: Caenorhabditis elegans (Caeno, recent; rhabditis, rod; elegans, nice), is a free-living, non-parasitic soil nematode that can be safely used in the laboratory and is common around the world. (C. elegans II, p.1)

Codon: a triplet of nucleotides that corresponds to an amino acid or a termination signal. (Genes V, p.1238)

Exon: is any segment of an interrupted gene that is represented by the mature mRNA product. (Genes V, p.1241)

Gene: the segment of DNA involved in producing a polypeptide chain. It includes regions preceding and following the coding region as well as intervening sequences (introns) between individual coding segments (exons).(Genes V, p.1242)

Genotype: the genetic constitution of an organism, consisting of all the genes (coding, regulating and non-coding)(Genes V, p.1243)

Hermaphrodites: self-fertilizing females. Its only male character is the ability to produce limited numbers of sperm that can be used in self-fertilization. (C. elegans II, p.210)

Intron: a segment of DNA that is transcribed, but removed from within the transcript (i.e., mRNA) by splicing together the sequences (exons) on either side of it. (Genes V, p.1245)

Kinase: an enzyme that phosphorylates (adds a phosphate group) to a substrate. The substrates for protein kinases are amino acids in other proteins, and they are divided into those specific for tyrosine and those specific for threonine/serine. (Genes V, p.1245)

Missense mutation: in a DNA sequence, one nucleotide is substituted by another nucleotide, such as A substituted by C, resulting a protein sequence with one amino acid different from the original one.

Mutagen: increases the rate of mutation by inducing changes in DNA.(Genes V, p.1248)

Mutation: describes any change in the sequence of DNA. (Genes V, p.1248)

Nonsense mutation: is any change in DNA that causes a (termination) codon to replace a codon representing an amino acid in the normal protein sequence. (Genes V, p.1248)

Phenotype: the appearance or other characteristics of an organism. (Genes V, p.1250)

Spindle: describes the reorganized structure of an eukaryotic cell passing through division. The nucleus has been dissolved and chromosomes are attached to the spindle by microtubules.(Genes V, p.1255)

WT: wild type, referring to the most common phenotype of an organism.

zyg: refers to a gene in C. elegans that means zygote (embryo)-defective. (C. elegans II, p.1046)

zyg-1: a temperature-sensitive mutant of the zyg gene (C. elegans II, p.1046)

zyg-1(oj7), zyg-1(b1), zyg-1(it4), zyg-1(it37): alleles of zyg-1 gene, each one resulting in temperature sensitive mutations.

Source:

Blumenthal, T., Meyer, B.J., Riddle, D.L., Priess, J.F. (Ed.). (1997). C. elegans II. New York, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

Lewin, B. (1994). Genes V. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.