Open AccessFunctional identification of the Segregation distorter locus of Drosophila melanogaster by germline transformation.
Author(s) -
Janna R McLean,
Cynthia Merrill,
Patricia A. Powers,
Barry Ganetzky
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.792
H-Index - 246
eISSN - 1943-2631
pISSN - 0016-6731
DOI - 10.1093/genetics/137.1.201
Subject(s) - biology , genetics , meiotic drive , locus (genetics) , drosophila melanogaster , tandem exon duplication , gene duplication , germline , gene , chromosome
Segregation Distorter (SD) is a meiotic drive system in D. melanogaster that results in the failure of SD/SD+ males to transmit SD+ homologs owing to the induced dysfunction of spermatids carrying the normal chromosome. Segregation distorter (Sd), the gene primarily responsible for this distorted transmission, is associated with a novel 12-kb restriction fragment containing a tandem duplication of a 5-kb wild-type segment of genomic DNA. When introduced into appropriate genetic backgrounds by germline transformation, this 12-kb fragment causes full levels of distortion and directs the expression of an SD-specific 4-kb transcript. Transformants that have lost part of this segment are unable to cause distortion and do not express the 4-kb transcript. These results identify the tandem duplication as Sd.