title: The raspberry locus of Drosophila melanogaster includes an inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase like coding sequence.
abstract: DNA from the raspberry gene of Drosophila melanogaster has been cloned through P-element tagging of a dysgenically induced lethal allele. A transcribed DNA segment adjacent to the P insert encodes an amino acid sequence that is similar to known inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) sequences. Further dysgenically induced lethals and all four known spontaneous ras eye-colour mutations have changes in the DNA either within or just upstream from the transcribed region. Identification of IMPDH as a probable product of the ras gene is compatible with the finding of an allele that requires dietary guanosine (GR), since the enzyme mediates the first of two biosynthetic steps leading from inosine monophosphate (IMP) to guanosine monophosphate (GMP). However, other auxotrophic mutants at the locus remain unexplained by the finding. The results further suggest that GMP synthesis from IMP is an essential process, despite the capacity of the fly for salvage synthesis of GMP from GR. Consideration of the phenotypes associated with mutants at the ras locus suggests that IMPDH activity is regulated in a tissue-specific manner.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nash
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: N J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Leonard
authors.forename: S Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Tiong
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fillips
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000032:analysis; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000196:embryology / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D017344:Genes, Insect / Q000235:genetics*; D005804:Genes, Lethal / Q000235:genetics; D005808:Genes, Recessive / Q000235:genetics; D007168:IMP Dehydrogenase / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics*; D016366:Open Reading Frames / Q000235:genetics; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D007168:IMP Dehydrogenase; C000609465:ras protein, Drosophila