MMS sensitive strains in Drosophila melanogaster

Larval populations of Drosophila melanogaster were treated with the monofunctional alkylating agent methyl methyl methanesulfonate (MMS). Four different stocks were tested. The method methyl used permits the direct registration of MMS-induced lethality of every genotype present in the treated population. Up to 5-fold differences in sensitivity between different genotypes were obeserved. Larvae of the wild-type strain. Antibes, which was reported to have increased UV sensitivity in embryonic stages, were MMS sensitive. In another stock, marked with spa^pol, female larvae were about twice as sensitive as male larvae.