Clonal analysis of the tissue specificity of recessive female-sterile mutations of Drosophila melanogaster using a dominant female-sterile mutation Fs(1)K1237.
Using the newly isolated, germ line-dependent dominant female-sterile mutation Fs(1)K1237, we have characterized the germ line or somatic line dependence of 25 X-linked recessive female-sterile mutations. Since Fs(1)K1237/+ females fail to lay eggs, only germ line cells which lose Fs(1)K1237 as a result of X-ray-induced mitotic recombination are capable of producing eggs. Such recombination events will render genes on the homologous chromosome homozygous. If this chromosome carries a recessive female-sterile mutation, the fertility will be restored only if the altered function is not required in the germ line. Using this test, we have classified 25 recessive female-sterile mutations: 12 affect germ line function, 12 affect somatic line function, and one gave an ambiguous result for which an explanation is proposed. For a few of the somatic line-dependent mutants, we found that some eggs derived from germ line clones showed the same phenotype as eggs laid by females homozygous for the recessive female-sterile mutation. These results are discussed in terms of a coincident production of clones in the follicle cells.
D000818:Animals; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D002999:Clone Cells / Q000166:cytology; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005808:Genes, Recessive; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D005835:Genitalia / Q000196:embryology; D007247:Infertility, Female / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D009154:Mutation; D009866:Oogenesis; D014960:X Chromosome