Summary
Sex-linked behavioral mutants were induced in Drosophila melanogaster with ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) and isolated by direct visual observation of abnormal phenotypes. The four behavioral phenotypes used were flight-reduction, hyperactivity, hypoactivity and stress-sensitivity, and are easily discernable in either single or small populations of mutant flies. In one screen, forty-two behavioral mutants were recovered from strains derived from 800 mutagen-treated X chromosomes. In a second screen, 139 behavioral mutants were obtained from 2369 X chromosomes. The high rate at which behavioral mutants were recovered in the second screen, when compared to new visibles (28) and new temperature-sensitive lethals (124), suggests that the isolation of behavioral mutations on the autosomes of Drosophila and in the genomes of larger insects should be practical.
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Communicated by W. Gehring
This research was supported by National Research Council of Canada grant A-1764 to D.T.S.
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Homyk, T., Szidonya, J. & Suzuki, D.T. Behavioral mutants of Drosophila melanogaster . Molec. Gen. Genet. 177, 553–565 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00272663
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00272663