Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 April 2009
Twelve isogenic X chromosome lines from a single natural population of Drosophila melanogaster were tested for their potential to induce gonadal dysgenesis and singed-weak mutability in P-M hybrid dysgenesis. The correlation between sterility and mutability was significantly positive for Cross A, confirming the results reported by Engels (1984) and Kocur, Drier & Simmons (1986). In Cross A* cytotype tests, however, two of the lines gave strikingly different results when measured by the gonadal dysgenesis test as compared to the singed-weak test. Positive correlations between traits within a given line were generally not observed. The results suggest that the relationship between gonadal dysgenesis production and the mobilization of P elements in singed-weak mutability is more complicated than that proposed by Engels (1984). The two phenomena may be separable under certain conditions. Neither test can be taken as an adequate characterization of the hybrid dysgenesis ‘profile’ of a line of flies.