Abstract
Several strains ofDrosophila hydei exhibiting an abnormal-abdomen (aa) phenotype were investigated. They proved to be mutant at one and the same major gene, located on chromosome 2 (homologous to 3R ofD. melanogaster).
This mutant gene,aa, causes skeletal abnormalities of the adult abdomen. Sternites and, less frequently, tergites are imperfectly sclerotized. They may be dissolved into separate areas, or may be missing altogether. Often they are normal in shape, while the number of hairs is reduced. Compound sclerites originating from parts of adjoining segments were never observed. Small hypoderm spherules with internal hairs occur frequently under the ventral skin. In aa larvae, segmentation is normal, in contrast to the situation in abnormal-abdomen mutants ofD. melanogaster. Even where theaa mutant expression is extremely strong, puparia are perfectly normal. Theaa gene thus appears to act exclusively during metamorphosis. This was confirmed by temperature experiments. The expression of theaa gene is much reduced at low temperature, but low temperature is effective during metamorphosis only.
The seven aa strains compared, showed considerable differences in penetrance and expressivity as well as in the amount of dominance in crosses. Reciprocal crosses yield in the F1 values either intermediate, or lower or higher, compared to those of the parent strains. The F1 values show a nonlinear correlation between penetrance and expressivity.
On the basis of chromosomal location and phenotypic effect, it is unlikely thataa ofD. hydei is homologous to any of the abnormal-abdomen mutants ofD. melanogaster described so far. However, a new dominant autosomal mutant was found inD. simulans, which seems to be a homologue.
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Kobel, H.R., van den Bosch, J.J. Abnormal-abdomen beiDrosophila hydei . Genetica 41, 119–140 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00958899
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00958899