title: Isolation and characterization of the prune locus of Drosophila melanogaster.
abstract: The complementary lethal interaction between the prune (pn) and Killer of prune loci of Drosophila melanogaster is an unusual and highly specific phenomenon. A lesion in pn results in a brownish-purple color of the compound eyes, while the conditional dominant Killer of prune mutation exhibits no phenotype by itself. However, a hemizygous or homozygous pn mutant carrying a copy of the Killer of prune gene dies during the late second to third instar stage of larval development. As a step toward understanding the molecular nature of this lethality and the role of pn in pigment biosynthesis, we have cloned the pn locus by using a transposon tag in the P element-induced allele, pn38. In addition, seven independent revertant lines were generated by the remobilization of transposons in pn38. The pn gene is located in a region that is transcriptionally active, and the isolated cDNAs that correspond to this area fall into three transcription units: I, II and III. Southern analysis shows that the restriction fragment length polymorphisms in five pn alleles are localized within a 1.2-kilobase genomic fragment, of which only transcription unit II is a part. The cDNA of this unit recognizes 1.65- and 1.8-kilobase messages in wild-type Drosophila adult head and body tissues that are absent or extremely reduced in pn mutants. Taken together, the results suggest that transcription unit II defines a part of the pn locus and its cDNA encodes a putative structural gene of pn.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene 97403.
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Teng
authors.forename: L B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Bender
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Engele
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsubota
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Venkatesh
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D015342:DNA Probes; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D005127:Eye Color / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D006136:GTP Cyclohydrolase / Q000378:metabolism; D005804:Genes, Lethal; D008297:Male; D009154:Mutation; D011621:Pteridines; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D015342:DNA Probes; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D011621:Pteridines; D006136:GTP Cyclohydrolase