Isolation and characterization of temperature-sensitivelethal(2)giant larva alleles

Summary In this paper we present an analysis of the behavior ofl(2)gl^tsimaginal wing discs during culture in adult hosts. Thel(2)gl^tslarvae reared at 29° C contain two types of wing discs, those that are morphologically normal and those that are abnormal. When discs of both types are cultured in adult hosts at 29° C, the restrictive temperature, they give rise to transplantable neoplastic tissue. However, when the 29° C reared discs are cultured at 15° C, the permissive temperature, the morphologically normal discs maintain their morphology, but the morphologically abnormal discs give rise to neoplasms. Thel(2)gl^tslarvae reared at 15° C contain only morphologically normal discs. When these discs are cultured in adult hosts at 29° C they give rise to neoplasms, however if the discs are cultured at 15° C they maintain their normal morphology. These results demonstrate: (1) that all wing imaginal discs obtained from 29° C rearedl(2)gl^tslarvae are competent to undergo neoplastic development, (2) the morphologically abnormal discs obtained from the 29° C rearedl(2)gl^tslarvae are committed to neoplastic development, (3) the neoplastic development of the morphologically normal discs is temperature dependent, (4) once the neoplastic development of thel(2)gl^tsdiscs has been initiated the process is not readily reversible. In addition, the ability ofl(2)gl^tswing discs to perform epimorphic regulation was tested by amputating morphologically normal permissively rearedl(2)gl^tswing discs and culturing both fragiments at the permissive temperature. Fragments of control wild-type discs maintained their morphology during culture at the permissive temperature. However, both fragments of txel(2)gl^tsdiscs became neoplastic. This result is discussed with respect to a possible role for thel(2)gl⁺function in epimorphic regulation and with respect to the phenomena of tumor promotion in vertebrates.