Table 1.
Life spans and SOD activities of individual lines expressing FALS Sod cDNAs
| Drosophila line | Life span, days (n): Experiment 1* | Life span, days (n): Experiment 2* | SOD activity (% wild type)† |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sod+/+ | ND | 59.0 (194) | 100 |
| Sodx39/+ | 73.6 (199) | 68.2 (193) | 49 |
| Sodx16/+ | 56.8 (197) | 54.0 (198) | 49 |
| dSod-1; Sodx16/x39 | 76.1 (198) | 73.3 (198) | 54 |
| dSod-2; Sodx39/x16 | 66.8 (200) | 69.2 (197) | 42 |
| dSod-3; Sodx39/x16 | 60.3 (101) | 67.4 (198) | 96 |
| dSod-4; Sodx16/x39 | 65.3 (193) | 64.7 (193) | 79 |
| dSod-5; Sodx16/x39 | 64.7 (197) | 64.7 (193) | 45 |
| dSod mean | 67.3 (889) | 67.9 (979) | |
| hSod-1; Sodx16/x39 | 67.8 (175) | 69.7 (198) | 7 |
| hSod-2; Sodx16/x39 | 69.3 (199) | 69.7 (202) | 10 |
| hSod-3; Sodx16/x39 | 68.7 (197) | 68.4 (197) | 11 |
| hSod-4; Sodx16/x39 | 64.1 (198) | 67.1 (198) | 4 |
| hSod-5; Sodx16/x39 | 62.7 (197) | 63.3 (199) | 25 |
| hSod-6; Sodx16/x39 | 59.8 (198) | 62.9 (201) | 7 |
| hSod-7; Sodx16/x39 | 36.6 (200) | 50.4 (198) | 2 |
| hSOD mean | 61.1 (1364) | 64.5 (1393) | |
| SodG93C-1; Sodx39/x16 | 51.6 (196) | 69.1 (193) | 12 |
| SodG93C-2; Sodx16/x39 | 66.5 (195) | 67.9 (198) | 14 |
| SodG93C-3; Sodx16/x39 | 55.9 (174) | 60.6 (196) | 15 |
| SodG93C-4; Sodx16/x39 | 37.7 (150) | 50.4 (197) | 6 |
| SodG93C-5; Sodx39/x16 | 47.8 (199) | 46.6 (198) | 15 |
| SodG93Cmean | 52.5 (914) | 58.9 (982) | |
| SodG37R-1; Sodx16/x39 | 54.1 (198) | 59.6 (198) | 1 |
| SodG37R-2; Sodx16/x39 | 38.1 (197) | 46.8 (199) | 0 |
| SodG37R-3; Sodx16/x39 | 27.1 (125) | 36.1 (195) | 0 |
| SodG37Rmean | 41.5 (520) | 47.6 (592) | |
| SodA4V-1; Sodx16/x39 | 23.6 (199) | 31.4 (199) | 1 |
| SodA4V-2; Sodx16/x39 | ND | 29.9 (198) | 0 |
| SodA4V-3; Sodx16/x39 | 17.8 (199) | 24.8 (199) | 0 |
| SodA4V-4; Sodx16/x39 | 20.6 (198) | 24.3 (197) | 0 |
| SodA4V-5; Sodx16/x39 | 11.8 (170) | 22.2 (193) | 0 |
| SodA4V-6; Sodx16/x39 | 13.6 (65) | 20.9 (196) | 2 |
| SodA4Vmean | 18.3 (831) | 25.6 (1182) | |
| SodG41D-1; Sodx16/x39 | 23.5 (199) | 29.6 (196) | 9 |
| SodG41D-2; Sodx16/x39 | 9.9 (174) | 18.7 (200) | 0 |
| SodG41Dmean | 17.2 (373) | 24.1 (396) | |
| SodI113T-1; Sodx16/x39 | 8.9 (148) | 16.8 (195) | 1 |
| SodI113T-2; Sodx16/x39 | 3.7 (9) | 12.2 (30) | 2 |
| SodI113Tmean | 8.6 (157) | 16.1 (225) | |
| (Sod-)-1; Sodx16/x39 | 9.8 (199) | 19.3 (196) | 1 |
| (Sod-)-2; Sodx16/x39 | 8.5 (98) | 16.4 (200) | 1 |
| (Sod-)-3; Sodx16/x39 | 7.6 (102) | 16.0 (200) | 1 |
| (Sod-)-4; Sodx16/x39 | 7.4 (100) | 14.6 (200) | 1 |
| (Sod-)-5; Sodx16/x39 | 6.5 (166) | 12.0 (129) | 1 |
| (SOD-) mean | 8.1 (665) | 15.9 (925) | |
| Sodx16/x39 | 7.3 (116) | 15.5 (175) | 1 |
| Sodx39/x16 | 8.4 (24) | 14.1 (190) | ND |
Mean life spans of individual lines in the two experiments were strongly correlated: r2 = 0.97. Flies were collected 1 day post-eclosion, and flies that died within 1 day of collection were excluded from the analysis. n, number of animals; ND, not determined.
SOD activity is expressed as a percentage of wild type and is the mean of three to eight determinations (n = 2 for SODI113T-2). Activity levels were also determined by using a spectrophotometric assay based on nitroblue tetrazolium reduction (21), with 2% SDS pretreatment to remove Mn SOD. This method confirmed the relationship among dSOD, hSOD-5, and SODG93C activities, but the low levels of SOD activity in most other lines could not be quantified due to residual interferences in the assay.