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Sex-ratio depression as a brood-pattern criterion of radiation damage inDrosophila melanogaster

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Abstract

The results of analyses of the brood variance in the relative frequency of females to males in the progeny ofD. melanogaster males having structurally-normal chromosomes, not only established that there is a brood-curve of sex-ratio depression in the progeny of irradiated males, but also revealed that there was a curve of sex-ratio change in successive broods of offspring from unirradiated males even though the ratio of females to males in the total progeny was 1 : 1.

The brood curve of sex-ratio change in both series of control males tended to be bimodal, with an increasing frequency of female offspring during the first five or six days, followed by a progressive decrease until about the 12th day, than subsequently an increase until about the 15–16th days, with perhaps again a decrease in the latest (17–24d) broods. The bimodality of the curve appeared to be the consequence of a complex relationship between brood-size, brood-rank and sex-ratio change.

Following irradiation of the males with 3000r of X-rays, the incidence of female offspring decreased linearly for the first eight days, with a low of 44.32% in the 6–8d broods. This was followed by an abrupt return to a 1 : 1 sex-ratio in the 9th day and subsequent (10–24d) broods. The recovery of 50% female offspring in the 9th-day brood was interpreted as supporting evidence for the thesis that this brood was derived from cells that had been spermatogonia at the time of irradiation of the parental males.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Genetics, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Aloha Hannah-Alava

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  1. Aloha Hannah-Alava
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Supported by Research Grant GM 15009-01 from the Public Health Service (U.S.).

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Hannah-Alava, A. Sex-ratio depression as a brood-pattern criterion of radiation damage inDrosophila melanogaster . Genetica 39, 519–543 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02324484

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