dtctex-1, the Drosophila melanogaster homolog of a putative murine t-complex distorter encoding a dynein light chain, is required for production of functional sperm.
Tctex-1 is a light chain of the cytoplasmic and flagellar dyneins and a candidate for one of the distorter products that cause transmission ratio distortion in mice. We report the identification, characterization, and a preliminary mutational analysis of the function of the Drosophila melanogaster dtctex-1 gene, the putative ortholog of the mammalian tctex-1 gene family. Four P-transposon insertions which disrupt the 5' untranslated region of dtctex-1 are viable in homozygous form but cause male sterility due to the production of non-motile sperm. In males homozygous for dtctex-1 mutant alleles the dtctex-1 transcript is undetectable, while in homozygous females transcripts of lower molecular weight are present. By secondary mobilization of P-element insertions several revertants and new mutant alleles carrying deletions in the 5' UTR region of the gene were produced and characterized by PCR and by Northern analysis.
Caggese
C
C
Dipartimento di Anatomia Patologica e di Genetica, Università di Bari, Italy. caggese@biologia.uniba.it
Moschetti
R
R
Ragone
G
G
Barsanti
P
P
Caizzi
R
R
D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D056445:Cytoplasmic Dyneins; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000378:metabolism; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster; D004398:Dyneins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006720:Homozygote; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008868:Microtubule Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013094:Spermatozoa; D056427:t-Complex Genome Region
D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; C533386:Dynlt1b protein, mouse; D008868:Microtubule Proteins; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C542608:ctp protein, Drosophila; C430717:Dlc90F protein, Drosophila; D056445:Cytoplasmic Dyneins; D004398:Dyneins