Phenocopies of Bithorax mutants

Exposure to ether of wild-type embryos of different strains ofDrosophila melanogaster causes phenocopies of different alleles of thebithorax system. Clonal analysis of the phenocopy spots has shown that the transformation caused by the treatment is maintained by cell heredity. Embryos heterozygous f...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Capdevila, M. P., García-Bellido, Antonio
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:1978
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/47606
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/47606
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Drosophila
Melanogaster
Bithorax
Homoeotic mutants
Clonal analysis
Determination
Gene regulation
Phenocopies
Descripción
Sumario:Exposure to ether of wild-type embryos of different strains ofDrosophila melanogaster causes phenocopies of different alleles of thebithorax system. Clonal analysis of the phenocopy spots has shown that the transformation caused by the treatment is maintained by cell heredity. Embryos heterozygous for several recessive mutant alleles ofbithorax show the same frequency of phenocopies as wild-type homozygous sib controls. The same holds for embryos heterozygous for the dominant mutant allelesCbx andUbx 1 which are point mutants in thecis-regulatory region of the system. However, for dominant mutants which have breakpoints in this region (Ubx 80,Ubx 130 andHm) the frequency of phenocopies is about twice that of their sib controls. Embryos with increasing numbers of copies (from 1 to 4) of thebithorax system show a decreasing frequency of phenocopies. A model is proposed that explains ldquobithoraxrdquo phenocopies as resulting from disturbances in the distribution of positional information signals for segments (inductor molecules) which compete with the product of a regulator gene (repressor) and thecis-regulatory region of thebithorax system. On this model, the initiation of a metathoracic developmental pathway would result from the derepression of thebithorax system.