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A Genetic And Molecular Analysis Of Spermiogenesis Initiation In Caenorhabditis Elegans, Paul J. Muhlrad

Paul J Muhlrad

How do cells acquire and regulate their specialized forms and functions? This is the fundamental question underlying the experiments described in this dissertation. To examine this question, I have peered deeply into an exquisitely specialized cell from a genetically tractable organism: the spermatozoon of the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans. C. elegans sperm orchestrate a fantastic morphogenetic transformation under severe constraints of time and cellular resources. In response to an external signal, spermatids reorganize their membranes and cytoskeleton to form crawling spermatozoa.This maturation, termed spermiogenesis, ensues without any new gene expression. To better understand this signaling pathway, I isolated suppressors of a …