Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-8bljj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-07T00:51:28.306Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Genetic and environmental control of a continuous trait, Abnormal abdomen, in Drosophila melanogaster

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2009

Ralph Hillman
Ralph Hillman
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

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 mutant phenotype Abnormal abdomen is under the control of a major gene, A53g located distally on the X chromosome. The phenotypic abnormalities are a result of the developmental interaction between this major gene and a modifier system associated with the residual genotype. The primary developmental effect of this mutant genotype is an interference with adult histoblast differentiation resulting in a raggedness or loss of tergite material due to the changes in the formation of the adult abdominal hypoderm. A secondary effect is an interference with middorsal fusion of the histoblasts.

The developmental effect of the genotype is influenced by a number of factors which include crowding, humidity, temperature, and the age of the culture. The mutant phenotype is due to an interaction of the major gene and the modifier system in association with these environmental factors. Gene action in relation to the final phenotype is postulated to be a two-step affair. The first is an increase in protein synthesis under the influence of the modifier system; and the second is the reaction of the histoblast, under the influence of the major gene, to this increase in protein synthesis during its differentiation into adult hypoderm. The function of the environment in this sequence of developmental reactions is postulated to be in its control of the utilization of the increased protein associated with the action of the enhancer genes. This hypothesis is discussed in terms of (1) the production and utilization of gene products and of (2) the regulation of development in terms of this production and utilization in a balanced developmental system.

Type
Research Article
Information
Genetics Research , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , August 1973 , pp. 37 - 50
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1973

References

REFERENCES

Bezem, J. J. & Sobels, F. H. (1953). Penetrance and expressivity in the genotype Abnormal Abdomen of Drosophila melanogaster. Proceedings of the Section of Sciences, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen C 56, 48–61.Google Scholar
Goldschmidt, R. B. (1938). Physiological Genetics. New York: McGraw-Hill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldschmidt, R. B. (1956). Theoretical Genetics. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Hillman, R., Shafer, S. J. & Sang, J. H. (1973). The effects of inhibition of protein synthesis on the phenotype of Abnormal-abdomen. Genetical Research 21, 229–238.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hunt, D. M. (1969). Gene-environment interactions of the eye-gone mutant in Drosophila melanogaster and a comparison with eyeless. Genetical Research 13, 313–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunt, D. M. & Burnet, B. (1969). Gene-environment interactions of the eyeless mutant in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetical Research 13, 251–265.Google Scholar
Kobel, H. R. & van den Bosch, J. J. (1970). Abnormal–Abdomen bei Drosophila hydei. Genetica 41, 119–140.Google Scholar
Landauer, Walter (1957). Phenocopies and genotype, with special reference to sporadically-occurring developmental variants. American Naturalist 91, 79–90.Google Scholar
Lindsley, D. L. & Grell, E. H. (1968). Genetic Variations of Drosophila melanogaster. Washington: Carnegie Institution of Washington, publication no. 627.Google Scholar
Morgan, T. H. (1911). A dominant sex-linked character. Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine 9, 14–15.Google Scholar
Morgan, T. H. (1915). The role of the environment in the realization of a sex-linked Mendelian character in Drosophila. American Naturalist 49, 385–429.Google Scholar
Rendel, J. M. (1962). The relationship between gene and phenotype. Journal of Theoretical Biology 2, 296–308.Google Scholar
Rose, R. & Hillman, R. (1969). In vitro studies of protein synthesis in Drosophila. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 35, 197–204.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rose, R. & Hillman, R. (1973). Multiple gene control of the tRNA aminoacylating system in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetical Research 21, 239–245.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sang, J. H. (1949 a). The ecological determinants of population growth in a Drosophila culture. III. Larval and pupal survival. Physiological Zoology 22, 183–202.Google Scholar
Sang, J. H. (1949 b). The ecological determinants of population growth in a Drosophila culture. IV. The significance of successive batches of larvae. Physiological Zoology 22, 202–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sang, J. H. (1949 c). The ecological determinants of population growth in a Drosophila culture. V. The adult population count. Physiological Zoology 22, 210–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sang, J. H. (1963). Penetrance, expressivity and thresholds. Journal of Heredity 54, 143–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sang, J. H. & Burnet, B. (1967). Physiological genetics of melanotic tumors in Drosophila melanogaster. IV. Gene-environment interactions of tu-bw with different third chromosome backgrounds. Genetics 56, 743–754.Google Scholar
Sang, J. H., McDonald, J. M. & Gordon, C. (1949). The ecological determinants of population growth in a Drosophila culture. VI. The total population count. Physiological Zoology 22, 223–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharloo, W. & Nieuwenhuijs, A. M. (1964). Temperature sensitive periods of cubitus in- terruptus mutants in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetica 35, 15–27.Google Scholar
Sobels, F. H. (1952). Genetics and morphology of the genotype Asymmetric with special reference to its Abnormal Abdomen character (Drosophila melanogaster). Genetica 26, 117–279.Google Scholar
Timoféef-Ressovsky, N. W. (1931). Gerichtetes Variieren in der phänotypischen Mani-festierung einiger Genovariationen von Drosophila funebris. Die Naturwissenschaften 19, 493–497.CrossRefGoogle Scholar