Abstract
A number of homoeotic mutants have been localized to the proximal right arm of chromosome 3 of Drosophila melanogaster. These include seven alleles of Antennapedia (Antp), which is associated with a transformation of antennae into legs; Nasobemia (Ns), which causes the same phenotype as Antp but was considered by Gehring (1966) not to be an allele; and three genes causing a transformation of second and third legs into first legs: Extra sex comb (Scx), Polycomb (Pc), and Multiple sex comb (Msc.). The alleles of Antp and Scx share a common recessive lethal effect, and Pc maps 0.2-0.3 units to the left of Scx.—In the present investigation, rearrangements associated with the reversion of Ns suggest that its cytological location is in or just distal to salivary chromosome doublet 84B1-2. Although Ns is viable when homozygous, four of its revertants share a common recessive lethal effect. These revertants fail to complement the recessive lethality of AntpB and Scx. Furthermore, they show a complex pattern of functional interaction with Pc and with Humeral (Hu), a dominant mutation associated with a rearrangement with one breakpoint just distal to 84B1-2. Finally, analysis of a revertant of Msc indicates that Msc is also located very close to 84B1-2. It is concluded that Ns and Scx are alleles of Antp. Pc shows many functional similarities to the Antp locus, but is probably not allelic. Evidence is presented that these dominant homoeotic genes are neomorphic in nature.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (1.5 MB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Davidson E. H. Note on the control of gene expression during development. J Theor Biol. 1971 Jul;32(1):123–130. doi: 10.1016/0022-5193(71)90140-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Gehring W. Bildung eines vollständigen Mittelbeines mit Sternopleura in der Antennenregion bei der Mutante Nasobemia (Ns) von Drosophila melanogaster. Arch Julius Klaus Stift Vererbungsforsch Sozialanthropol Rassenhyg. 1967;41(2-4):44–54. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lindsley D. L., Sandler L., Baker B. S., Carpenter A. T., Denell R. E., Hall J. C., Jacobs P. A., Miklos G. L., Davis B. K., Gethmann R. C. Segmental aneuploidy and the genetic gross structure of the Drosophila genome. Genetics. 1972 May;71(1):157–184. doi: 10.1093/genetics/71.1.157. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Postlethwait J. H., Schneiderman H. A. A clonal analysis of determination in Antennapedia a homoeotic mutant of Drosophila melanogaster. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1969 Sep;64(1):176–183. doi: 10.1073/pnas.64.1.176. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Welshons W. J. Analysis of a gene in drosophila. Science. 1965 Nov 26;150(3700):1122–1129. doi: 10.1126/science.150.3700.1122. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]