title: Anent the genomics of spermatogenesis in Drosophila melanogaster.
abstract: An appreciable fraction of the Drosophila melanogaster genome is dedicated to male fertility. One approach to characterizing this subset of the genome is through the study of male-sterile mutations. We studied the relation between vital and male-fertility genes in three large autosomal regions that were saturated for lethal and male-sterile mutations. The majority of male-sterile mutations affect genes that are exclusively expressed in males. These genes are required only for male fertility, and several mutant alleles of each such gene were encountered. A few male-sterile mutations were alleles of vital genes that are expressed in both males and females. About one-fifth of the genes in Drosophila melanogaster show male-specific expression in adults. Although some earlier studies found a paucity of genes on the X chromosome showing male-biased expression, we did not find any significant differences between the X chromosome and the autosomes either in the relative frequencies of mutations to male sterility or in the frequencies of genes with male-specific expression in adults. Our results suggest that as much as 25% of the Drosophila genome may be dedicated to male fertility.
authors: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
authors: Dan L
authors: DL
authors: Lindsley
authors: John
authors: J
authors: Roote
authors: James A
authors: JA
authors: Kennison
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility / Q000235:genetics; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D017344:Genes, Insect; D049750:Genome, Insect; D023281:Genomics; D008297:Male; D009154:Mutation; D059007:Polytene Chromosomes; D013091:Spermatogenesis / Q000235:genetics*; D014960:X Chromosome