Characteristic Features of Induced Mutagenesis in Hybrid Dysgenesis Systems of Drosophila melanogaster

The mutagenic effect of low-dose gamma-irradiation was studied inDrosophila melanogaster systems of hybrid dysgenesis by estimating polytene chromosome rearrangements, recombination frequency, and viability at the embryonic and postembryonic developmental stages. A dose of gamma-irradiation which had no effect detectable by routine interstrain cross proved to significantly reduce the number of recombinants in the H–E and P–M systems and mortality at postembryonic stages. However, this combined effect was obtained if irradiation followed trasposition, i.e., it depended on the application sequence of the mutagenic factors. The reverse order of the mutagenic treatment led to summation of the effects: as compared to either control, the frequencies of the dominant lethal mutations as well as the larval and pupal mortality in F₂ increased significantly (at the level of 99.9%). This allowed us to estimate the contribution of extremely low-dose gamma-irradiation into the mutagenic effect, which was impossible under routine conditions.