Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T20:06:37.806Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Exchange between the ribosomal RNA genes of X and Y chromosomes in Drosophila melanogaster males

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2009

R. H. Maddern
Affiliation:
Department of Radiation Genetics and Chemical Mutagenesis, University of Leiden, and J. A. Cohen Institute, Interuniversity Institute for Radiopathology and Radiation Protection, Leiden, The Netherlands
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The genes coding for the 18s and 28s ribosomal RNA (rRNA) are present on both the X and Y chromosomes of D. melanogaster at a site known as the bobbed locus. Exchange was observed in males between a normally orientated X and Y chromosome (Dp(1; 1) scv1 and BSY y31d) with a frequency of 0·079%. One-quarter (7 in 27) of these exchange products between two + chromosomes which both carried sufficient rRNA genes for a bb+ phenotype exhibited a bb phenotype. Evidence is presented that one-half, and possibly all, of the exchanges involved the repetitive bb genes. These results together with those reported by Palumbo, Caizzi & Ritossa (1973) imply that the repeated bb genes of either (or both) the X or Y chromosome are not arranged with uniform polarity and, further, that spermatogonial exchange between the X and Y chromosomes may be restricted to the bb loci.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

References

REFERENCES

Cooper, K. W. (1959). Cytogenetic analysis of major heterochromatic elements (especially Xh and Y) in Drosophila melanogaster and the theory of ‘heterochromatin’. Chromosoma 10, 535588.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooper, K. W. (1964). Meiotic conjunctive elements not involving chiasmata. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (U.S.A.) 52, 12481255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hilliker, A. J. & Appels, R. (1980). The genetic analysis of D. melanogaster heterochromatin. Cell 21, 607619.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lindsley, D. L. (1955). Spermatogonial exchange between the X and Y chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 40, 2444.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lindsley, D. L. & Grell, E. H. (1968). Genetic variations of Drosophila melanogaster. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 627.Google Scholar
Maddern, R. H. (1977). Distal X linked lethals. Drosophila Information Service 52, 82.Google Scholar
Maddern, R. H. (1979). Exchange between bobbed loci of X and Y chromosome. Genetics 91, s72.Google Scholar
Maddern, R. H. & Leigh, B. (1976). The timing of the restitution of chromosome breaks induced by X-rays in the mature sperm of Drosophila melanogaster. Mutation Research 41, 255268.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Neauhaus, M. (1937). Additional data on crossing over between X and Y chromosomes in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 22, 333339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palumbo, G., Caizzi, R. & Ritossa, F. (1973). Relative orientation with respect to the centromere of ribosomal RNA genes of the X and Y chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (U.S.A.) 70, 18831885.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pelligrini, M., Manning, J. & Davidson, N. (1977). Sequence arrangement of the rDNA of Drosophila melanogaster. Cell 10, 213224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ritossa, F. (1976). The Bobbed Locus. In The genetics and biology of Drosophila, vol 1b (ed. Ashburner, M. and Novitski, E.). London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Ritossa, F., Scalenghe, F., Turi, D. Di & Contini, A. M. (1973). On the cell stage of X-Y recombination during rDNA magnification in Drosophila. Cold Spring Harbor Symposium on Quantitative Biology 38, 483490.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ritossa, F. M., Atwood, K. C. & Spiegelman, S. (1966). A molecular explanation of the bobbed mutants of Drosophila as partial deficiencies of ‘ribosomal’ DNA. Genetics 54, 819834.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schalet, A. (1969). Exchanges at the bobbed locus of Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 63, 133153.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schalet, A. & Lefevre, G. (1973). The localization of ‘ordinary’ sex-linked genes in section 20 of the polytene X chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster. Chromosoma 44, 183202.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tartof, K. D. (1971). Increasing the multiplicity of ribosomal RNA genes in Drosophila melanogaster. Science 171, 294297.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tartof, K. D. & Dawid, I. B. (1976). Similarities and differences in the structure of X and Y chromosome rRNA genes of Drosophila. Nature 263, 2730.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Traut, H., Scheid, W. & Wind, H. (1970). Partial and total sex-chromosome loss induced by X-rays in mature spermatozoa of Drosophila melanogaster. Mutation Research 9, 489499.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wellauer, P. K. & Dawid, I. B. (1977). The structural organization of ribosomal DNA in Drosophila melanogaster. Cell 10, 193212.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed