Protein synthesis during flight muscle development in normal and wupB indirect flight muscles of Drosophila melanogaster

We have looked at protein synthesis in Drosophila pupae during normal and abnormal development of indirect flight muscle. Abnormal development was followed in the dominant flightless mutant wupB isolated by Hotta and Benzer (Genetic Mechanisms of Development, pp. 129–167. Academic Press, New York, 1972). The mutant muscles in adult wupB flies have abnormal morphology and disorganized myofibrils. Protein synthesis in developing muscle was followed on SDS-polyacrylamide gels. During early stages of development (55–60 h) protein synthesis patterns are similar in the mutant and the wild-type. However, at 61 h, the mutant shows a transient increase in synthesis of the 68 and 70 kDa heat shock proteins. This is followed at about 70 h by a divergence of the patterns of synthesis of other proteins seen in the mutant and wild type. These results suggest that induction of heat shock protein synthesis is an early event in abnormal morphogenesis in this mutant.