Damage In Drosophila Research Articles

Pesticide-induced complete and partial chromosome loss in screens with repair-defective females of Drosophila melanogaster.

Commercial preparation of fungicides (captan and maneb), herbicides (bromacil, paraquat, picloram, and 2,4-D), and insecticides (carbaryl, chlorpyrifos, dimethoate, DDT, diazinon, carbofuran, and permethrin) were tested for their ability to induce complete and partial chromosome losses in Drosophila melanogaster males. In an attempt to identify the mutagenic activity of pesticides that are toxic in low concentrations in Drosophila, these males were mated with mus-302 repair-defective females. The rationale for this mating scheme is based on the repair of genetic damage in Drosophila sperm by maternal enzymes in the zygote, and on the reports that there may be increases in the frequency of recovery of chemically induced chromosome losses in crosses of treated males with mus-302 females. Verification of the sensitivity of this screen in this study came from significant increases in the frequency of chromosome loss induced by low concentrations of the positive controls, N-nitrosodimethylamine and methyl methanesulfonate. Of the 13 pesticides, the insecticide chlorpyrifos induced a significant amount of ring-X chromosome loss. No pesticide induced a significant increase in partial chromosome loss. These results are discussed in relation to the usefulness of repair-defective mutants in screens for genetic damage in Drosophila and other higher eukaryotes by chemicals that are toxic or cause sterility at low concentrations.

SPONTANEOUS MITOTIC RECOMBINATION AND EVIDENCE FOR AN X-RAY-INDUCIBLE SYSTEM FOR THE REPAIR OF DNA DAMAGE IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER

Spontaneous mitotic recombination in the left and of chromosome 3 was examined in both unirradiated control flies and sibs irradiated early in development by determining the sizes and frequencies of multiple-wing-hair (mwh) clones in the wing blade of heterozygous mwh/+ flies. Approximately 16% of the spontaneous mwh clones arise from events generating cells with normal division rates. The remaining 84% result from events generating cells with an average cell division rate one-third that of the surrounding cells; these are thought to result from events that generate aneuploid cells. Such clones probably arise from a failure correctly to repair spontaneous DNA damage. The frequency of spontaneous events late in development decreases significantly after irradiation as much as 150 hours earlier in development. The suppression of spontaneous events decreases with a longer period of time between irradiation and the final cell divisions in the wing blade. These results suggest the existence of a repair system for DNA damage in Drosophila that is induced by irradiation. The decrease in effect with time following irradiation could result from slow degradation or dilution by subsequent cell growth and division.

Modification of radiation-induced genetic damage in Drosophila melanogaster male germ cells by butylated hydroxytoluene.

The effects of butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) on genetic damage induced by ionizing radiation were studied in post-meiotic male cells of Drosophila melanogaster. Prior to submitting Samarkand males to 2 krad of X-rays, BHT was administered (a) with the food (0.2 per cent final concentration) from emergence of the imago for 7 days or (b) by intra-abdominal injection (0.05 per cent) to 7-day-old adults. Dominant lethality (embryonic and total), II-III translocations and sex-linked recessive lethals were recorded. The only effect of BHT observed was a decrease in the frequency of recessive lethals induced, detected in early spermatids. Since oxygen plays an important role in the high radiosensitivity of these cells, it is suggested that the sparing action of BHT was due to its antioxidative and radical scavenging properties.

Sex-ratio depression as a brood-pattern criterion of radiation damage inDrosophila melanogaster

The results of analyses of the brood variance in the relative frequency of females to males in the progeny ofD. melanogaster males having structurally-normal chromosomes, not only established that there is a brood-curve of sex-ratio depression in the progeny of irradiated males, but also revealed that there was a curve of sex-ratio change in successive broods of offspring from unirradiated males even though the ratio of females to males in the total progeny was 1 : 1.