Effects of caffeine on maternal repair systems in Drosophila melanogaster. Concentration-dependent reversals of the effects of caffeine on chromosome loss and autosome-autosome translocations induced by x-rays in the paternal genome.
Drosophila melanogaster females were treated with 1% caffeine, mated with X-rayed males and the frequencies of induced sex-chromosome loss, translocations between the major autosomes and between the Y-chromosome and the major autosomes determined. In a reversal of the results obtained previously with 0.2% caffeine by Mendelson and Sobels, treatment of females with 1% caffeine led to a decrease in sex-chromosome loss, confirming preliminary data of Zimmering and Osgood and an increase in autosome--autosome translocations. It is suggested that the higher concentration of caffeine inhibits replication permitting more time available for chromosome-type restitutions by means of caffeine-insensitive repair mechanisms. In contrast with results for autosome--autosome translocation, the frequency of Y-autosome translocations was depressed below controls suggesting an isolation (by any one of several means) of Y-chromosome breaks from those in the autosomes.
D000818:Animals; D002110:Caffeine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002872:Chromosome Deletion; D002875:Chromosomes / Q000528:radiation effects; D004247:DNA / Q000528:radiation effects; D004260:DNA Repair / Q000187:drug effects*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D014178:Translocation, Genetic / Q000187:drug effects*; D014965:X-Rays
D002110:Caffeine; D004247:DNA