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On the use of excision repair defective cells in the wing somatic mutation and recombination test in Drosophila melanogaster
Author(s) -
Graf Ulrich,
Hall Colin B.,
Schaik Nancy Van,
Aaron C. S.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
environmental and molecular mutagenesis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1098-2280
pISSN - 0893-6692
DOI - 10.1002/em.2850160403
Subject(s) - mitotic crossover , drosophila melanogaster , wing , mutation , somatic cell , biology , mutagen , genetics , germline mutation , mitosis , recombination , chromosome , spots , microbiology and biotechnology , dna , botany , gene , aerospace engineering , engineering
Ten chemical mutagens were tested in the wing somatic mutation and recombination test in Drosophila melanogaster. This assay makes use of genetic markers expressed on the wing of adult flies. Larvae which are trans‐heterozygous for mwh (multiple wing hairs) and flr (flare) were fed with the compounds either acutely (2, 4, or 6 hr) or chronically (48 or 72 hr), or were treated by inhalation (1 hr). Genetic changes induced in the somatic cells of the wing imaginal discs lead to the formation of mutant clones on the wing ( mwh and/or flr ). Single spots are produced by point mutation, chromosome breakage, and mitotic recombination; twin spots are produced exclusively by mitotic recombination. All 10 mutagens belonging to different chemical classes were clearly positive in this assay. However, the choice of the optimal treatment conditions (concentration of compound, duration of treatment, age of larvae at treatment) is essential. Eight of the compounds were also tested in excision repair defective cells by introducing the mei ‐9 L1 mutation into the test system. This seems not to improve the detection capacity of the assay, mainly because only small spots are found in excision repair defective wings. In addition, the frequencies of spots in these wings are enhanced four to five times, which makes the scoring more tedious. For these and other practical reasons the use of this specific cross is not recommended in the wing spot test for routine screening purposes.