Abstract
The taste sensitivity to the disaccharide trehalose of Drosophila melanogaster is under the genetic control by the Tre gene on the X chromosome. The gene is genetically dimorphic for high and low sensitivity and is likely to be functioning in the primary step of chemoreception. We have determined the cytological localization of the Tre gene to be between 5A10 and 5B1-3 by analyzing the sensitivity to trehalose in flies which are segmentally aneuploid bearing either deficiencies or duplicated fragments of T(X;Y) translocations. We also constructed flies which are aneuploidy and thus carry different dosage of Tre and/or Tre(+) alleles in order to examine the gene dosage effect on trehalose sensitivity and to deduce the nature of the gene's action. Trehalose sensitivity decreased in females carrying half the normal dosage of a given Tre allele, but a proportional increase in sensitivity was not observed in flies bearing a duplication of the Tre alleles. The changes in sensitivity in various aneuploid flies suggest that there is an upper limit to the number of molecules that can be incorporated into the receptor membrane. Genetic evidence strongly suggests that Tre is the structural gene for the trehalose receptor. We present a model to account for the mechanism of genetical control on the sensitivity to trehalose.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (763.2 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Baker B. S., Belote J. M. Sex determination and dosage compensation in Drosophila melanogaster. Annu Rev Genet. 1983;17:345–393. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.17.120183.002021. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Cagan R. H., Morris R. W. Biochemical studies of taste sensation: binding to taste tissue of 3H-labeled monellin, a sweet-tasting protein. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Apr;76(4):1692–1696. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.4.1692. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Dastoli F. R., Price S. Sweet-sensitive protein from bovine taste buds: isolation and assay. Science. 1966 Nov 18;154(3751):905–907. doi: 10.1126/science.154.3751.905. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hiji Y., Sato M. Isolation of the sugar-binding protein from rat taste buds. Nat New Biol. 1973 Jul 18;244(133):91–93. doi: 10.1038/newbio244091a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- O'Brien S. J., Gethmann R. C. Segmental aneuploidy as a probe for structural genes in Drosophila: mitochondrial membrane enzymes. Genetics. 1973 Sep;75(1):155–167. doi: 10.1093/genetics/75.1.155. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- O'Tousa J. E., Baehr W., Martin R. L., Hirsh J., Pak W. L., Applebury M. L. The Drosophila ninaE gene encodes an opsin. Cell. 1985 Apr;40(4):839–850. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90343-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Salkoff L. Genetic and voltage-clamp analysis of a Drosophila potassium channel. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 1983;48(Pt 1):221–231. doi: 10.1101/sqb.1983.048.01.025. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Scavarda N. J., O'tousa J., Pak W. L. Drosophila locus with gene-dosage effects on rhodopsin. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Jul;80(14):4441–4445. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.14.4441. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Stewart B. R., Merriam J. R. Segmental aneuploidy and enzyme activity as a method for cytogenetic localization in drosophila melanogaster. Genetics. 1974 Feb;76(2):301–309. doi: 10.1093/genetics/76.2.301. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Zuker C. S., Cowman A. F., Rubin G. M. Isolation and structure of a rhodopsin gene from D. melanogaster. Cell. 1985 Apr;40(4):851–858. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90344-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]