Skip to main content
The Journal of Cell Biology logoLink to The Journal of Cell Biology
. 1981 Jul 1;90(1):101–107. doi: 10.1083/jcb.90.1.101

Dunce mutants of Drosophila melanogaster: mutants defective in the cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase enzyme system

PMCID: PMC2111840  PMID: 6265472

Abstract

The cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP phosphodiesterase activities present in flies of six mutant strains of the dunce gene and in the parent wild- type strains are characterized. All of the mutants exhibit aberrant cyclic AMP metabolism. The mutant strains dunceM14, dunceM11, and dunceML appear to be amorphic, because they completely lack the cAMP- specific phosphodiesterase normally present in adult flies. These strains exhibit extremely high levels of cAMP. The mutant strains dunce1, dunce2, and dunceCK are hypomorphic and exhibit reduced levels of the cAMP-specific phosphodiesterase. These strains exhibit less marked increases in cAMP content compared with the three amorphic strains. The dunce2 strain possesses a residual enzyme activity that exhibits anomalous kinetics compared with those of the normal enzyme. The possibility that the dunce locus is the structural gene for the cAMP-specific phosphodiesterase is discussed.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (745.2 KB).

Selected References

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

  1. Aceves-Piña E. O., Quinn W. G. Learning in normal and mutant Drosophila larvae. Science. 1979 Oct 5;206(4414):93–96. doi: 10.1126/science.206.4414.93. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bravo R., Otero C., Allende C. C., Allende J. E. Amphibian oocyte maturation and protein synthesis: related inhibition by cyclic AMP, theophylline, and papaverine. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1978 Mar;75(3):1242–1246. doi: 10.1073/pnas.75.3.1242. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Byers D., Davis R. L., Kiger J. A., Jr Defect in cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase due to the dunce mutation of learning in Drosophila melanogaster. Nature. 1981 Jan 1;289(5793):79–81. doi: 10.1038/289079a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Davis R. L., Kiger J. A., Jr A partial characterization of the cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases of Drosophila melanogaster. Arch Biochem Biophys. 1980 Aug;203(1):412–421. doi: 10.1016/0003-9861(80)90194-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Davis R. L., Kiger J. A., Jr Genetic manipulation of cyclic AMP levels in Drosophila melanogaster. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1978 Apr 28;81(4):1180–1186. doi: 10.1016/0006-291x(78)91261-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Dudai Y., Jan Y. N., Byers D., Quinn W. G., Benzer S. dunce, a mutant of Drosophila deficient in learning. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1976 May;73(5):1684–1688. doi: 10.1073/pnas.73.5.1684. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Greengard P. Phosphorylated proteins as physiological effectors. Science. 1978 Jan 13;199(4325):146–152. doi: 10.1126/science.22932. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Greengard P. Possible role for cyclic nucleotides and phosphorylated membrane proteins in postsynaptic actions of neurotransmitters. Nature. 1976 Mar 11;260(5547):101–108. doi: 10.1038/260101a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Kiger J. A., Jr, Golanty E. A genetically distinct form of cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase associated with chromomere 3D4 in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics. 1979 Mar;91(3):521–535. doi: 10.1093/genetics/91.3.521. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Kiger J. A., Jr The consequences of nullosomy for a chromosomal region affecting cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase activity in Drosophila. Genetics. 1977 Apr;85(4):623–628. doi: 10.1093/genetics/85.4.623. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Markwell M. A., Haas S. M., Bieber L. L., Tolbert N. E. A modification of the Lowry procedure to simplify protein determination in membrane and lipoprotein samples. Anal Biochem. 1978 Jun 15;87(1):206–210. doi: 10.1016/0003-2697(78)90586-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Mohler J. D. Developmental genetics of the Drosophila egg. I. Identification of 59 sex-linked cistrons with maternal effects on embryonic development. Genetics. 1977 Feb;85(2):259–272. doi: 10.1093/genetics/85.2.259. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Pichard A. L., Cheung W. Y. Cyclid 3':5'-nucleotide phosphodiesterase. Interconvertible multiple forms and their effects on enzyme activity and kinetics. J Biol Chem. 1976 Sep 25;251(18):5726–5737. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Quinn W. G., Harris W. A., Benzer S. Conditioned behavior in Drosophila melanogaster. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1974 Mar;71(3):708–712. doi: 10.1073/pnas.71.3.708. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Quinn W. G., Sziber P. P., Booker R. The Drosophila memory mutant amnesiac. Nature. 1979 Jan 18;277(5693):212–214. doi: 10.1038/277212a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Journal of Cell Biology are provided here courtesy of The Rockefeller University Press

RESOURCES