Highly efficient sex chromosome interchanges produced by I-CreI expression in Drosophila.
The homing endonuclease I-CreI recognizes a site in the gene encoding the 23S rRNA of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. A very similar sequence is present in the 28S rRNA genes that are located on the X and Y chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster. In this work we show that I-CreI expression in Drosophila is capable of causing induced DNA damage and eliciting cell cycle arrest. Expression also caused recombination between the X and Y chromosomes in the heterochromatic regions where the rDNA is located, presumably as a result of a high frequency of double-strand breaks in these regions. Approximately 20% of the offspring of males expressing I-CreI showed exceptional inheritance of X- and Y-linked markers, consistent with chromosome exchange at rDNA loci. Cytogenetic analysis confirmed the structures of many of these products. Exchange between the X and Y chromosomes can be induced in males and females to produce derivative-altered Y chromosomes, attached-XY, and attached-X chromosomes. This method has advantages over the traditional use of X rays for generating X-Y interchanges because it is very frequent and it generates predictable products.
Maggert
Keith A
KA
Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112.
Golic
Kent G
KG
D000818:Animals; D004249:DNA Damage / Q000502:physiology; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000166:cytology / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008938:Mitosis / Q000502:physiology; D011995:Recombination, Genetic / Q000502:physiology*; D014960:X Chromosome / Q000502:physiology*; D014998:Y Chromosome / Q000502:physiology*
D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes; C048901:endodeoxyribonuclease CreI