Skip to main content
PMC home page
Genetics logoLink to Genetics
. 1994 Aug;137(4):1019–1026. doi: 10.1093/genetics/137.4.1019

Meiotic Gene Conversion Tract Length Distribution within the Rosy Locus of Drosophila Melanogaster

A J Hilliker 1, G Harauz 1, A G Reaume 1, M Gray 1, S H Clark 1, A Chovnick 1
PMCID: PMC1206049  PMID: 7982556

Abstract

Employing extensive co-conversion data for selected and unselected sites of known molecular location in the rosy locus of Drosophila melanogaster, we determine the parameters of meiotic gene conversion tract length distribution. The tract length distribution for gene conversion events can be approximated by the equation P(L >/= n) = φ(n) where P is the probability that tract length (L) is greater than or equal to a specified number of nucleotides (n). From the co-conversion data, a maximum likelihood estimate with standard error for φ is 0.99717 +/- 0.00026, corresponding to a mean conversion tract length of 352 base pairs. (Thus, gene conversion tract lengths are sufficiently small to allow for extensive shuffling of DNA sequence polymorphisms within a gene.) For selected site conversions there is a bias towards recovery of longer tracts. The distribution of conversion tract lengths associated with selected sites can be approximated by the equation P(L >/= n| selected = φ(n)(1 - n + n/φ), where P is now the probability that a selected site tract length (L) is greater than or equal to a specified number of nucleotides (n). For the optimal value of φ determined from the co-conversion analysis, the mean conversion tract length for selected sites is 706 base pairs. We discuss, in the light of this and other studies, the relationship between meiotic gene conversion and P element excision induced gap repair and determine that they are distinct processes defined by different parameters and, possibly, mechanisms.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (792.8 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Banga S. S., Velazquez A., Boyd J. B. P transposition in Drosophila provides a new tool for analyzing postreplication repair and double-strand break repair. Mutat Res. 1991 Jul;255(1):79–88. doi: 10.1016/0921-8777(91)90020-p. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Carpenter A. T. Meiotic roles of crossing-over and of gene conversion. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 1984;49:23–29. doi: 10.1101/sqb.1984.049.01.005. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Carpenter A. T. Mismatch repair, gene conversion, and crossing-over in two recombination-defective mutants of Drosophila melanogaster. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 Oct;79(19):5961–5965. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.19.5961. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Chovnick A., Ballantyne G. H., Baillie D. L., Holm D. G. Gene conversion in higher organisms: half-tetrad analysis of recombination within the rosy cistron of Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics. 1970 Oct;66(2):315–329. doi: 10.1093/genetics/66.2.315. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Chovnick A., Ballantyne G. H., Holm D. G. Studies on gene conversion and its relationship to linked exchange in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics. 1971 Oct;69(2):179–209. doi: 10.1093/genetics/69.2.179. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Clark S. H., Daniels S., Rushlow C. A., Hilliker A. J., Chovnick A. Tissue-specific and pretranslational character of variants of the rosy locus control element in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics. 1984 Dec;108(4):953–968. doi: 10.1093/genetics/108.4.953. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Clark S. H., Hilliker A. J., Chovnick A. Recombination can initiate and terminate at a large number of sites within the rosy locus of Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics. 1988 Feb;118(2):261–266. doi: 10.1093/genetics/118.2.261. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Curtis D., Clark S. H., Chovnick A., Bender W. Molecular analysis of recombination events in Drosophila. Genetics. 1989 Jul;122(3):653–661. doi: 10.1093/genetics/122.3.653. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Dutton F. L., Jr, Chovnick A. Developmental regulation of the rosy locus in Drosophila melanogaster. Dev Biol (N Y 1985) 1988;5:267–316. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4615-6817-9_10. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Engels W. R., Johnson-Schlitz D. M., Eggleston W. B., Sved J. High-frequency P element loss in Drosophila is homolog dependent. Cell. 1990 Aug 10;62(3):515–525. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(90)90016-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Gloor G. B., Nassif N. A., Johnson-Schlitz D. M., Preston C. R., Engels W. R. Targeted gene replacement in Drosophila via P element-induced gap repair. Science. 1991 Sep 6;253(5024):1110–1117. doi: 10.1126/science.1653452. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Gray M., Charpentier A., Walsh K., Wu P., Bender W. Mapping point mutations in the Drosophila rosy locus using denaturing gradient gel blots. Genetics. 1991 Jan;127(1):139–149. doi: 10.1093/genetics/127.1.139. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Hilliker A. J., Clark S. H., Chovnick A. The effect of DNA sequence polymorphisms on intragenic recombination in the rosy locus of Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics. 1991 Nov;129(3):779–781. doi: 10.1093/genetics/129.3.779. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Johnson-Schlitz D. M., Engels W. R. P-element-induced interallelic gene conversion of insertions and deletions in Drosophila melanogaster. Mol Cell Biol. 1993 Nov;13(11):7006–7018. doi: 10.1128/mcb.13.11.7006. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Lee C. S., Curtis D., McCarron M., Love C., Gray M., Bender W., Chovnick A. Mutations affecting expression of the rosy locus in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics. 1987 May;116(1):55–66. doi: 10.1093/genetics/116.1.55. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. McCarron M., O'Donnell J., Chovnick A., Bhullar B. S., Hewitt J., Candido E. P. Organization of the rosy locus in Drosophila melanogaster: further evidence in support of a cis-acting control element adjacent to the xanthine dehydrogenase structural element. Genetics. 1979 Feb;91(2):275–293. doi: 10.1093/genetics/91.2.275. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Nassif N., Engels W. DNA homology requirements for mitotic gap repair in Drosophila. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1993 Feb 15;90(4):1262–1266. doi: 10.1073/pnas.90.4.1262. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Smith P. D., Finnerty V. G., Chovnick A. Gene conversion in Drosophila: non-reciprocal events at the maroon-like cistron. Nature. 1970 Oct 31;228(5270):442–444. doi: 10.1038/228442a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Genetics are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES