A null allele in the wdfy-3 selective autophagy gene of C. elegans .

The WDFY-3 protein is important for cargo selection during selective autophagy and for regulating axon termination. The C-terminal region of WDFY-3 contains BEACH, WD repeats, and FYVE-like domains, all of which are required for selective autophagy. WDFY-3 also contains a large N-terminal region that is relatively uncharacterized. Currently, is the only mutant allele that has been characterized for this gene. This allele features a small deletion that is predicted to disrupt the C-terminal region of the protein. Here, we used CRISPR Cas9 to produce a new allele that is a near complete deletion of the coding region. We report that, unlike the existing allele, this new null allele causes a weak overextension phenotype in the PLM axon. Like the existing allele, the new null allele can suppress PLM axon termination defects caused by an null allele. Creating and characterizing new alleles will increase our understanding of this gene and could help elucidate more of the gene's conserved functions.