Abstract
Crosses between the semispecies of the Drosophila paulistorum complex produce fertile female but sterile male hybrids. An hypothesis is put forward that the hybrid sterility is in this case a result of discordance between a cytoplasmic symbiont and the genotype of the host. An ultrastructural analysis has been made of the testes of sterile male hybrids between the Andean and the Amazonian, and also other semispecies. Spermatid bundles undergo degenerative changes resulting in the loss of the axial filament complex and of associated mitochondrial derivatives. Numerous single or multiply clustered elements closely resembling Mycoplasma are observed in association with the degenerating spermatid bundles. Similar inclusions are observed also intruding into the wall of the distal parts of the testes and/or vasa deferentia. Some Mycoplasma-like bodies are observed also within the developing spermatids. These organs may be crowded with degenerating bundles and clusters of the Mycoplasma-like bodies. Each body is enclosed in a membrane, and may show a central reticular network and peripheral ribosome-like granules. The testes of the fertile males of the parental stocks reveal the presence of similar Mycoplasma-like inclusions, but not in such profusion.
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Dedicated to Professor Theodosius Dobzhansky on the occasion of his seventieth birthday, and in gratitude for our introduction to Drosophila paulistorum.
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Kernaghan, R.P., Ehrman, L. An electron microscopic study of the etiology of hybrid sterility in Drosophila paulistorum . Chromosoma 29, 291–304 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00325944
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00325944