The accumulation of P-element-induced recombinants in the germline of male Drosophila melanogaster.
P-element-induced recombination in Drosophila melanogaster occurs premeiotically. Recombinants are therefore expected to accumulate in the stem cells of the germline of P-element-carrying males. We show that both the recombination frequency and the incidence of "clustering" increase with the age of males carrying various P-element derivatives. The combination of end-deleted elements can lead to average recombination frequencies >50% with individual instances of 100% recombination. These elements also lowered the fertility of the carriers. We investigated these features by constructing an analytical and a computer simulation model of the course of events in the germline, incorporating the recently proposed hybrid element insertion (HEI) model of P-element activity. The model is able to predict extreme recombination levels, segregation ratio biases and lowered fertility through cell death in a single analysis.
Tanaka
M M
MM
School of Biological Sciences, Sydney University, NSW, Australia. markt@charles.stanford.edu
Liang
X M
XM
Gray
Y H
YH
Sved
J A
JA
D000818:Animals; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003434:Crossing Over, Genetic; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D017344:Genes, Insect; D005838:Genotype; D018095:Germ-Line Mutation; D008297:Male; D008938:Mitosis; D008957:Models, Genetic; D005810:Multigene Family; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D011995:Recombination, Genetic
D004251:DNA Transposable Elements