Are unpaired chromosomes spermicidal?: A maximum-likelihood analysis of segregation and meiotic drive in Drosophila melanogaster males deficient for the ribosomal-dna.
Meiosis in Drosophila melanogaster males is achiasmate and requires special systems to ensure normal segregation. Several situations that yield frequent nondisjunction also produce high levels of chromatin-dependent sperm lethality, suggesting the possibility of a simple and direct connection between defective disjunction and defective sperm development. One hypothesis that has been offered is that pairing not only ensures disjunction, but also changes the physical state of chromosomes so that they can be packaged in sperm. Here, I present an analysis of extensive data on disjunction and sperm survival in rDNA-deficient males collected by B. McKee and D. Lindsley. This analysis demonstrates that, although nondisjunction and sperm lethality are indeed correlated, the basis of this is not the presence of unpaired chromosomes in the sperm. Chromosomes that have failed to disjoin are not themselves spermicidal.
Robbins
L G
LG
Dipartimento di Biologia Evolutiva, Università di Siena, 53100 Siena, Italy and Genetics Program and Department of Zoology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824-1312, USA.robbins@unisi.it
D000818:Animals; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008297:Male; D008540:Meiosis / Q000235:genetics*; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009630:Nondisjunction, Genetic; D013094:Spermatozoa; D014998:Y Chromosome
D004275:DNA, Ribosomal