Molecular characterization of spontaneous mutations at the scarlet locus of Drosophila melanogaster.
Six spontaneous mutations of the scarlet (st) locus of Drosophila melanogaster have been studied at the molecular level. Two of the mutants (st1 and stsp) arose in laboratory populations, while the other four (stcob, stct89, stdct and stdv) were isolated from natural populations. In five of these there is a DNA insertion within the st region and in four cases the insertion has been identified as being a transposable element; these include the retrotransposons 412 and B104/roo, and also jockey a member of the LINE family. In the other case (stdct), the insertion appears to consist of partially duplicated st sequences. In two of the mutants (st1 and stdv) the same transposable element (412) has inserted in the same orientation at exactly the same site within the st gene. The transposable element insertions are found in intron and exon regions of the st gene and also in the putative upstream regulatory region; insertions located in introns or exons result in the production of truncated st transcripts. The results show that the same types of transposable elements that cause spontaneous mutation in laboratory stocks of D. melanogaster also cause mutation in the wild.
Division of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Science, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
J F
JF
ten Have
M M
MM
Green
A J
AJ
Howells
D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D000830:Animals, Laboratory; D000835:Animals, Wild; D001483:Base Sequence; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D005091:Exons / Q000235:genetics; D017344:Genes, Insect; D007438:Introns / Q000235:genetics; D015336:Molecular Probe Techniques; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016296:Mutagenesis; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017384:Sequence Deletion
D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C090596:st protein, Drosophila