Storage effects on translocations and dominant lethals induced by ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) in Drosophila melanogaster.

Abstract

When Drosophila sperm treated with different doses of ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) were stored in untreated females, changes in the yields of translocations and dominant lethals were examined. At high EMS doses yielding 25-33% X-linked recessive lethals, the frequencies of both translocations and dominant lethals increased markedly with increasing storage time. At low doses yielding 7-15% recessive lethals, however, no increase in their yields was detected after the storage of treated sperm, indicating that storage effects of EMS are dose dependent.