The controlling element Ds at the Shrunken locus in Zea mays: structure of the unstable sh-m5933 allele and several revertants

We have analyzed the structure of the Shrunken (Sh) locus in a strain containing an unstable recessive mutation, sh-m5933, caused by the transposable controlling element Dissociation (Ds). We have also analyzed nine spontaneous Sh revertant alleles. The sh-m5933 allele contains a 30 kb insertion at the Sh locus, as well as a duplication that includes part of the insertion and the Sh locus sequence on the 5' side of the insertion site. The revertants continue to show Ds-mediated chromosome breakage at the Sh locus, have an intact Sh locus from which the insertion has been excised, and retain the duplication. One of the nine revertant alleles has a 2 kb deletion at the junction between the Sh locus and the insertion sequence in the duplicated segment of the locus. The revertant also shows a temporal change in the pattern of somatic chromosome breakage, implicating the junction sequence as the site of Ds-mediated chromosome breakage.