What causes mutation in Drosophila?
Flies with vestigial wings cannot fly: they have a defect in their “vestigial gene,” on the second chromosome. These flies have a recessive mutation. Of the pair of vestigial genes carried by each fly (one from each parent), both have to be altered to produce the abnormal wing shape.
Who introduced mutation in Drosophila?
The first unquestionably successful results, however, were obtained by AUERBACH and ROBSON (1946; 1947a, b) who induced mutations in the sperm of Drosophila by exposing males to vapors of mustard gas and of re- lated nitrogen-mustard compounds.
What is the phenotype of the Apterous mutation in Drosophila?
Mutations at the apterous (ap) locus in Drosophila melanogaster give rise to three distinct phenotypes: aberrant wings, female sterility and precocious adult death. The wing phenotype includes five types of abnormality: blistering, deficiencies, duplications, high-order repetitions and transformation of structures.
Who find out the physical mutagen in Drosophila?
Particularly in the years after World War II, the field of radiation genetics profited a lot from studies with Drosophila (Sankaranarayanan and Sobels, 1976). Using the test for sex-linked recessive lethals, Charlotte Auerbach detected the first chemical mutagens (Auerbach and Robson, 1947).
Can mutations be induced in Drosophila?
Mutations can be induced by several methods. The three general approaches used to generate mutations are radiation, chemical and transposon insertion. The first induced mutations were created by treating Drosophila with X-rays. Using this a pproach Mueller to induce lethal mutations.
What is white eye mutation in Drosophila?
white, abbreviated w, was the first sex-linked mutation discovered, found in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. In 1910 Thomas Hunt Morgan and Lilian Vaughan Morgan collected a single male white-eyed mutant from a population of Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies, which usually have dark brick red compound eyes.
How do you mutate Drosophila?
The most common mutagens used in Drosophila are P elements, which generate mutations by inserting into genes, and chemicals, such as ethyl methyl sulpfnate (EMS), which modifies bases in the DNA to cause mainly single base substitutions, also known as point mutations [9].
Why are Drosophila melanogaster used in genetics?
Drosophila melanogaster, known colloquially as the fruit fly, remains one of the most commonly used model organisms for biomedical science. These tools allow researchers to maintain complex stocks with multiple mutations on single chromosomes over generations, an advance that made flies the premier genetic system [4].
What does the Apterous gene do?
The selector gene apterous (ap) plays a key role during the development of the Drosophila melanogaster wing as it governs the establishment of the dorsal-ventral (D-V) compartment boundary. The D-V compartment boundary is known to serve as an important signaling center that is essential for the growth of the wing.
What chromosome is Apterous wings on?
This mutant,’which occurred spontaneously, was shown by C. W. METZ (1914) to be recessive and located on the second chromosome near the black (6) locus.
What is an example of induced mutation?
Mutations can be induced using physical agents, such as X-rays or UV rays, or chemical agents, such as mustard gas and formaldehyde. For the most part, induced mutations appear as point mutations, especially if they are caused by chemical agents. Point mutations are when one part of a base pair of DNA is changed.