Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The induction of chromosome losses inDrosophila sperm and their linear dependence on dosages of irradiation

  • Published:
Journal of Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

1. A method for detecting non-lethal losses ofX- andY-chromosomes produced by irradiation of mature sperm ofDrosophila is described in detail.

2. Losses ofX andY are found to be produced by X-raying mature sperm, and those found by the method used are non-lethal to the zygote.

3. Between 0 and 4000 r. the frequency of the above losses is, in first approximation, a linear function of the dosage, and it certainly varies less rapidly than the 1·5 power of the latter—the power found, for these dosages, in the case of gross rearrangements.

4. The mechanism of origination of these losses is interpreted as being through the occurrence of single breaks followed by lateral fusion of sister chromatid fragments, leading to formation of a dicentric chromosome which is either lost in the first change or becomes subjected to repeated breakage at successive anaphases and is ultimately lost.

5. It is suggested, as a result of comparisons of the frequency of the losses found with the amount of change of the sex ratio caused by the same dosage, that a major part of the losses are lethal to the zygote.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Barth, L. G. (1929). “The effect of X-rays on the spermatozoa ofDrosophila.”Physiol. Zoöl.2, 172–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauer, H. (1939a). “Röntgenauslösung von Chromosomenmutationen beiDrosophila melanogaster. I.”Chromosoma,1, 343–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —— (1939b). “Die Dosisabhangigkeit röntgeninduzierter Chromosomenmutationen im Ring-X-Chromosom vonDrosophila melanogaster.”Naturwissenschaften,49, 821–2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • -- (1939c). “Röntgeninduktion von Chromosomenmutationen beiDrosophila.”Proc. 7th int. Congr. Genet. (in the Press).

  • Bauer, H., Demerec, M. &Kaufmann, B. P. (1938). “X-ray-induced chromosomal alterations inDrosophila melanogaster.”Genetics,23, 610–30.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Belgovsky, M. L. (1937). “Dependence of translocation frequency inDrosophila melanogaster upon the X-ray dosage.”Trud. Inst. Genet. (Mosc.),11, 93–124. (Russian with English summary.)

    Google Scholar 

  • -- (1938). “Influence of inert regions of chromosomes on the frequency of occurrence and type of changes in the adjacent active sections.”Bull. Acad. Sci. U.R.S.S. Ser. Biol. pp. 1017–36.

  • -- (1939). “Dependence of the frequency of minute chromosome rearrangements inDrosophila melanogaster upon X-ray dosage.”Bull. Acad. Sci. U.R.S.S. Ser. Biol. pp. 159–70.

  • Belgovsky, M. L. &Muller, H. J. (1938). “Further evidence of the prevalence of minute rearrangement and absence of simple breakage in and near chromocentral regions, and its bearing on the mechanism of mosaicism and rearrangement.” (Abstr.)Genetics,23, 139–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carlson, J. G. (1939). “Some effects of X-radiation on the neuroblasts of the grass-hopper,Cortophaga viridifasciata.”Genetics,23, 596–609.

    Google Scholar 

  • Catcheside, D. G. (1938). “The effect of X-ray dosage upon the frequency of induced structural changes in the chromosomes ofDrosophila melanogaster.”J. Genet.36, 307–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crew, F. A. E. &Lamy, R. (1940). “Spontaneous inverted exchange betweenX andY inDrosophila melanogaster.”J. Genet.39, 273–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Darlington, C. D. (1939). “Misdivision and the genetics of the centromere.”J. Genet.37, 341–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fabergé, A. C. (1940). “An experiment on chromosome fragmentation inTradescantia by X-rays.”J. Genet.39, 229–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gowen, J. W. &Gay, E. H. (1933). “Gene number, kind and size inDrosophila.”Genetics,18, 1–31.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lamy, R. &Pontecorvo, G. (1940). “AttachedX-chromosomes arising in the male.”D.I.S.13, 72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mather, K. (1937). “The experimental determination of the time of chromosome doubling.”Proc. Roy. Soc. B,124, 97–106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McClintock, B. (1938a). “The fusion of broken ends of sister half-chromatids following chromatid breakage at meiotic anaphases.”Res. Bull. Mo. agric. Sta. no. 290.

  • —— (1938b). “The production of homozygous deficient tissues with mutant characteristics by means of the aberrant mitotic behaviour of ring-shaped chromosomes.”Genetics,23, 315–76.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McClintock, B. (1939). “The behaviour in successive nuclear divisions of a chromosome broken at meiosis.”Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. Wash.25, 405–16.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Muller, H. J. (1927). “The problem of genic modification.”Verh. V. Int. Kongr. Vererbungsw. pp. 234–60.Z. indukt. Abstamm.- u. VererbLehre, Suppl.1 (1928).

  • —— (1934). “AttachedX’s.”D.I.S. 2, 57–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • —— (1936). “Über die Bestimmung des Verhältnisses der Mutationsrate zur Strahlendosis.”Strahlentherapie,55, 72–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • —— (1938). “The remaking of chromosomes.”Collect. Net (Woods Hole),13, 181–95, 198.

    Google Scholar 

  • -- (1939). “The mechanism of structural change in chromosomes.”Proc. 7th int. Congr. Genet. (in the Press).

  • —— (1940). “An analysis of structural change in chromosomes ofDrosophila.”J. Genet. 40, 1–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muller, H. J. &Painter, T. S. (1929). “The cytological expression of changes in gene alignment produced byX-rays inDrosophila.”Amer. Nat.63, 193–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muller, H. J., Prokofyeva-Belgovskaya, A. A. &Raffel, D. (1938). “The absence of transmissible chromosome fragments resulting from single breakage, and their simulation as a result of compound breakage involving chromocentral regions.” (Abstr.)Genetics,23, 161.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neuhaus, M. E. (1936). “Production of attachedX-chromosomes inDrosophila melanogaster males.”Nature, Lond.,137, 996–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —— (1939). “A cytogenetic study of theY-chromosome ofDrosophila melanogaster.”J. Genet. 37, 229–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patterson, J. T. (1933). “The mechanism of mosaic formation inDrosophila.”Genetics,18, 32–5.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pontecorvo, G. (1940a). “Further investigations on thesc. YL chromosome.”D.I.S.13, 74.

    Google Scholar 

  • -- (1940b). “Researches on the mechanism of induced chromosome rearrangements inDrosophila melanogaster.” Ph.D. thesis, University of Edinburgh. 146 pp.

  • Raffel, D. (1939). “A genetical analysis of apparent losses of the distal end of the scute-S chromosome.” (Abstr.)Rec. Genet. Soc. Amer.7; andGenetics,24, 107.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sax, K. (1938). “Chromosome aberrations induced by X-rays.”Genetics,23, 494–516.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • —— (1939). “The time factor in X-ray production of chromosome aberrations.”Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., Wash.,25, 225–33.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • —— (1940). “An analysis of X-ray induced chromosomal aberrations inTradescantia.”Genetics,25, 41–67.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sidky, A. R. (1939). “Translocation between sperm and egg chromosomes as evidence that breakage precedes union.”Proc. 7th int. Congr. Genet. (in the Press).

  • Stadler, L. J. (1936). “The nature of mutations. II.”Collect. Net (Woods Hole),11, 248–51.

    Google Scholar 

  • -- (1939). “Genetic studies with ultraviolet radiation.”Proc. 7th int. Congr. Genet. (in the Press).

  • Stern, C. (1929). “Untersuchungen über Aberrationen desY-Chromosoms vonDrosophila melanogaster.”Z. indukt. Abstamm.- u. VererbLehre,51, 253–353.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Timoféeff-Ressovsky, N. W. (1939). “The mechanism of point mutations.”Proc. 7th int. Genet. Congr. (in the Press).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Animal Genetics, University of Edinburgh, UK

    G. Pontecorvo

Authors
  1. G. Pontecorvo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Pontecorvo, G. The induction of chromosome losses inDrosophila sperm and their linear dependence on dosages of irradiation. Journ. of Genetics 41, 195–215 (1941). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02983020

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02983020

Keywords

Search

Navigation