Acetylcholine synthesis and accumulation in the CNS of Drosophila larvae: analysis of shibirets, a mutant with a temperature-sensitive block in synaptic transmission

A radiochemical method is applied to the study of neurotransmitter metabolism in Drosophila. The larval CNS is a favorable system for analyzing acetylcholine (ACh) metabolism, since the pool of [3H]ACh rapidly reaches a steady state with a high ratio of intracellular [3H]ACh to [3H]choline. A temperature-sensitive paralytic mutant, shibirets, shows reduced [3H]ACh accumulation at the restrictive temperature. This reduction is not the result of decreased synthesis of [3H]ACh, but rather an abnormally rapid rate of release, which is not prevented by blocking tetrodotoxin-sensitive nerve activity.     

Modulation of the dihydropyridine-sensitive calcium channels in Drosophila by a phospholipase C-mediated pathway

Disruption of phospholipase C-β (PLC) by the norpA mutations of Drosophila renders flies blind by affecting the light-evoked photoreceptor potential. We report here that the norpA-coded PLC modulates the 1,4-dihydropyridine (DHP)-sensitive Ca²⁺ channels in larval muscles. The DHP-sensitive current was reduced in the norpA mutants. Application of 1 μM phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (TPA) and 1 μM phorbol 12,13-didecanoate (PDD), activators of protein kinase C (PKC), rescued the current in the mutant fibers without significantly affecting the normal current. 4α-phorbol 12,13-didecanoate (4αPDD), an inactive analog of PDD, did not affect either the normal or the mutant current. One micromolar bisindolylmaleimide (BIM), an inhibitor of PKC, reduced the current in the normal fibers without affecting the mutant current. 300 μM sn-1,2-dioctanoyl-glycerol (DOG), an analog of diacylglycerol (DAG), increased the current in the mutant fibers. These experiments suggest that the DHP-sensitive Ca²⁺ channels in Drosophila may be modulated by the PLC-DAG-PKC pathway, and that the same PLC isozyme which is involved in phototransduction in the adult flies may also modulate muscle Ca²⁺ channels in the larval stage of development. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Neurobiol 33: 265–275, 1997     

Dominant flightless phenotype of the vestigial-Depilate deficiency of Drosophila melanogaster

This paper describes the flightless phenotype of the vestigial-Depilate deficiency of Drosophila melanogaster. Recombination experiments and studies of revertants show that the dominant flightless and depilate phenotypes are inseparable from the deficiency and due to a single cause. Dosage studies on this region reveal that these phenotypes are due to antimorphic effects, probably on the Suppressor-2 of zeste or Posteriorsexcomb genes which lie close to the distal breakpoint of the deficiency. The deficiency does not uncover a gene haplo-insufficient for flight. A detailed phenotypic examination failed to reveal any effects of this mutation on the indirect flight muscles. Dr(2R)vg^D/+ heterozygotes are unable to initiate flight or raise their wings, even during death by over etherisation. There is a close correlation between the dominant antimorphic flightlessness and patterned thoracic bristle loss which is revealed in interactions with Df(2R)vg⁶² and the Su(z)2alleles. This is discussed in the light of the bnstle loss mutants of the Achaete-scute complex. It is proposed that the vestigial-Depilate deficiency affects the development of thoracic nerves.     

Pupation in drosophila melanogaster and the effect of the Lethalcryptocephal mutation

The events of normal pupation in Drosophila melanogaster are described in detail from the time of gas bubble expulsion until the completion of pupation with the eversion of the cephalic complex. The importance of the internal gas bubble for posterior movement of the prepupa is examined and its relation to the expulsion of the larval mouthparts and the creation of the anterior gas space described. The phenotype of lethalcryptocephal homozygotes, which characteristically cannot evert their heads, is re-examined. Observations of larval lethality and multiple mouthparts in 1 (2)crc larvae and pupae are described. These new aspects of the mutant phenotype are discussed with respect to the abnormalities of pupation. Fristrom's hypothesis that the basic mutant lesion is an increased stiffness of the pupal cuticle due to an excess chitin deposition is re-evaluated.     

RESPONSES AND CORRELATED RESPONSES TO ARTIFICIAL SELECTION ON THORAX LENGTH IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER

Two sets of four replicate lines of Drosophila melanogaster were selected for large and small thorax with controls. F, progeny of crosses between the selected lines within each size category showed (a) a reduction in preadult viability in large lines relative to control and small lines when they were cultured at medium or high density in competition with a standard mutant marked competitor stock, and (b) an increase in larval development time in large lines relative to control and small lines. Natural selection for increased body size in adults may therefore be opposed by adverse effects on larval viability. The results are discussed in terms of the developmental mechanisms probably responsible for the change in body size. The preadult survival of the large and control lines was measured at three different temperatures, and there was no evidence for a significant interaction between size and temperature. The observed evolutionary increase in body size in response to reduced temperature in Drosophila must therefore involve either different genes from those subject to selection for size at a single temperature, or a fitness component other than preadult survival. There was no significant asymmetry in response to selection, and thorax length showed heterosis in crosses between the selected lines.     

黑腹果蝇中一个Cy染色体上的缺失

卷翅(Curly简称Cy)是易以识别的果蝇翅膀的显性突变, 是黑腹果蝇2号染色体上最常用的显性翅膀标记, 但对Cy的分子特征却不清楚。综合细胞遗传学与基因组学的信息,应用分子生物学技术,首次在Cy染色体上发现一个102 bp的缺失。该缺失存在于不同的卷翅品系中, 说明不同Cy染色体上存在某些共同的分子特征。同时以该缺失作为Cy染色体的DNA标记, 通过基因型多态分析, 初步证实Cy纯合型可导致果蝇胚胎期死亡。这些结果为进一步研究卷翅的分子遗传机理奠定了基础。     

Stage specific synthesis of some follicle cell proteins inDrosophila melanogaster

Summary Ovarian protein synthesis in the temperature-sensitive mutantl(1)su(f)^ts67g was analysed at the permissive and non-permissive temperature by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of³⁵S-methionine labelled ovaries. The synthesis of yolk and three other ovarian proteins of approximative molecular weights of 92K, 82K and 76K, respectively, were affected by the shift to the restrictive temperature. Examination of protein synthesis pattern in staged egg chambers revealed that these three proteins were synthesized at stage 10. Analysis of separated cell types present at stage 10 demonstrate that the three proteins were follicle cell products. We have been unable to identify these proteins as any previously described follicle cell proteins.     

Imaginal disc development in a non-pupariating lethal mutant inDrosophila melanogaster

Summary Imaginal disc development in the non-pupariating lethall(1)npr-1, a mutant that maps to an ecdysone early puff site, is studied in situ, in vitro and in transplanted discs. Disc development is slightly abnormal from the middle of the third instar with severe abnormalities appearing after the rise in 20-hydroxyecdysone that triggers metamorphosis. The mutant discs only partly evaginate and do not undergo any of the detailed morphological changes characteristic of metamorphosis. Treatment of the mutant dises in vitro with colcemid and trypsin facilitates evagination but the appendages remain morphologically abnormal. A number of differentiative processes occur in mutant discs in situ and in discs transplanted into wild type hosts in spite of the absence of normal morphogenesis. Implications of the observations for normal disc development are discussed. Possible modes of action of thel(1)npr-1 gene are also discussed in light of the observation that the mutant gene maps to a locus which is thought to have a regulatory function in development.