Sterility and hypermutability in the P-M system of hybrid dysgenesis in Drosophila melanogaster.
Inbred wild strains of Drosophila melanogaster derived from the central and eastern United States were used to make dysgenic hybrids in the P-M system. These strains possessed P elements and the P cytotype, the condition that represses P element transposition. Their hybrids were studied for the mutability of the P element insertion mutation, snw, and for the incidence of gonadal dysgenesis (GD) sterility. All the strains tested were able to induce hybrid dysgenesis by one or both of these assays; however, high levels of dysgenesis were rare. Sets of X chromosomes and autosomes from the inbred wild strains were more effective at inducing GD sterility than were sets of Y chromosomes and autosomes. In two separate analyses, GD sterility was positively correlated with snw mutability, suggesting a linear relationship. However, one strain appeared to induce too much GD sterility for its level of snw destabilization, indicating an uncoupling of these two manifestations of hybrid dysgenesis.
D000818:Animals; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006059:Gonadal Dysgenesis; D006824:Hybridization, Genetic; D007247:Infertility, Female; D008297:Male; D009154:Mutation