Viable deletions of a telomere from a Drosophila chromosome.
Destabilization of a P element transposon inserted in the subtelomeric region induced a set of similar chromosomal rearrangements. These rearrangements appear to be terminal deletions with endpoints clustered at the centromere-distal end of the transposon. The terminally deleted chromosome progressively loses sequences from the broken end at a rate of approximately 50-100 bp per fly generation, suggesting that the replication of this end may be incomplete. In most cases, capping of the broken end by readdition of new sequences was not observed. Past failures to recover terminal deletions of Drosophila chromosomes following X-ray mutagenesis may have been due to a cell cycle arrest in response to unrepaired DNA damage rather than to an absolute requirement for the telomere.
Levis
R W
RW
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington 98104.
D000818:Animals; D002455:Cell Division; D002872:Chromosome Deletion; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D002875:Chromosomes / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D009154:Mutation
D004251:DNA Transposable Elements