Functional identification of the Segregation distorter locus of Drosophila melanogaster by germline transformation.
Segregation Distorter (SD) is a meiotic drive system in D. melanogaster that results in the failure of SD/SD+ males to transmit SD+ homologs owing to the induced dysfunction of spermatids carrying the normal chromosome. Segregation distorter (Sd), the gene primarily responsible for this distorted transmission, is associated with a novel 12-kb restriction fragment containing a tandem duplication of a 5-kb wild-type segment of genomic DNA. When introduced into appropriate genetic backgrounds by germline transformation, this 12-kb fragment causes full levels of distortion and directs the expression of an SD-specific 4-kb transcript. Transformants that have lost part of this segment are unable to cause distortion and do not express the 4-kb transcript. These results identify the tandem duplication as Sd.
McLean
J R
JR
Laboratory of Genetics, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53706.
Merrill
C J
CJ
Powers
P A
PA
Ganetzky
B
B
D000818:Animals; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008540:Meiosis / Q000235:genetics; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D013087:Spermatids; D014170:Transformation, Genetic