title: Behaviour modification by in vitro mutagenesis of a variable region within the period gene of Drosophila.
abstract: The period gene of Drosophila melanogaster, implicated in the control of both the circadian and male courtship song rhythms, is found to be polymorphic. Alleles differ in the length of a region of the gene encoding a series of threonine-glycine repeat units. The phenotypes of transformed fruit flies, in which the only functional period gene lacks the entire perfect threonine-glycine repeat region, show that the effects of the period gene on the circadian and male courtship song rhythms can be dissociated.
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal; D014828:Vocalization, Animal