scholarly journals Elimination of Introns at the Drosophila suppressor-of-forked Locus by P-Element-Mediated Gene Conversion Shows That an RNA Lacking a Stop Codon is Dispensable

Genetics ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 143 (1) ◽  
pp. 345-351
Author(s):  
Carol J Williams ◽  
Kevin O'Hare
Keyword(s):  
X Chromosome ◽  
Stop Codon ◽  
Alternative Polyadenylation ◽  
Gene Replacement ◽  
P Element ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Genomic Location ◽  
Chromosomal Breaks ◽  
White Locus ◽  
Cleavage Stimulation Factor

Abstract The suppressor of forked [su(f)] locus affects the phenotype of mutations caused by transposable element insertions at unlinked loci. It encodes a putative 84-kD protein with homology to two proteins involved in mRNA 3′ end processing; the product of the yeast RNA14 gene and the 77-kD subunit of human cleavage stimulation factor. Three su(f) mRNAs are produced by alternative polyadenylation. The 2. 6 and 2.9-kb mRNAs encode the same 84-kD protein while a 1.3-kb RNA, which terminates within the fourth intron, is unusual in having no stop codon. Using P-element-mediated gene replacement we have copied sequences from a transformation construct into the su(f) gene creating a su(f) allele at the normal genomic location that lacks the first five introns. This allele is viable and appears wild type for su(f) function, demonstrating that the 1.3-kb RNA and the sequences contained within the deleted introns are dispensable for su(f) function. Compared with studies on gene replacement at the white locus, chromosomal breaks at su(f) appear to be less efficiently repaired from ectopic sites, perhaps because of the location of su(f) at the euchromatin/heterochromatin boundary on the X chromosome.

scholarly journals P-element-induced interallelic gene conversion of insertions and deletions in Drosophila melanogaster.

1993 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 7006-7018 ◽  
Author(s):  
D M Johnson-Schlitz ◽  
W R Engels
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Gene Replacement ◽  
P Element ◽  
Element Mobility ◽  
P Elements ◽  
Insertions And Deletions ◽  
Rapid Spread ◽  
White Locus ◽  
In Cis ◽  
P Transposon

We studied the process by which whd, a P-element insertion allele of the Drosophila melanogaster white locus, is replaced by its homolog in the presence of transposase. These events are interpreted as the result of double-strand gap repair following excision of the P transposon in whd. We used a series of alleles derived from whd through P-element mobility as templates for this repair. One group of alleles, referred to collectively as whd-F, carried fragments of the P element that had lost some of the sequences needed in cis for mobility. The other group, whd-D, had lost all of the P insert and had some of the flanking DNA from white deleted. The average replacement frequencies were 43% for whd-F alleles and 7% for the whd-D alleles. Some of the former were converted at frequencies exceeding 50%. Our data suggest that the high conversion frequencies for the whd-F templates can be attributed at least in part to an elevated efficiency of repair of unexpanded gaps that is possibly caused by the closer match between whd-F sequences and the unexpanded gap endpoints. In addition, we found that the gene substitutions were almost exclusively in the direction of whd being replaced by the whd-F or whd-D allele rather than the reverse. The template alleles were usually unaltered in the process. This asymmetry implies that the conversion process is unidirectional and that the P fragments are not good substrates for P-element transposase. Our results help elucidate a highly efficient double-strand gap repair mechanism in D. melanogaster that can also be used for gene replacement procedures involving insertions and deletions. They also help explain the rapid spread of P elements in populations.

scholarly journals Studies on the rate and site-specificity of P element transposition.

Genetics ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 127 (3) ◽  
pp. 515-524 ◽  
Author(s):  
C A Berg ◽  
A C Spradling
Keyword(s):  
X Chromosome ◽  
Chromosomal Location ◽  
The Other ◽  
P Element ◽  
Site Specificity ◽  
Drosophila Genome ◽  
P Elements ◽  
Genomic Location ◽  
Target Sites ◽  
And Function

Abstract A single genetically marked P element can be efficiently mobilized to insertionally mutagenize the Drosophila genome. We have investigated how the structure of the starting element and its location along the X chromosome influenced the rate and location of mutations recovered. The structure of two P[rosy+] elements strongly affected mobilization by the autonomous "Jumpstarter-1" element. Their average transposition rates differed more than 12-fold, while their initial chromosomal location had a smaller effect. The lethal and sterile mutations induced by mobilizing a P[rosy+] element from position 1F were compared with those identified previously using a P[neoR] element at position 9C. With one possible exception, insertion hotspots for one element were frequently also targets of the other transposon. These experiments suggested that the genomic location of a P element does not usually influence its target sites on nonhomologous chromosomes. During the course of these experiments, Y-linked insertions expressing rosy+ were recovered, suggesting that marked P elements can sometimes insert and function at heterochromatic sites.

scholarly journals The Drosophila clathrin heavy chain gene: clathrin function is essential in a multicellular organism.

Genetics ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 134 (4) ◽  
pp. 1119-1134 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Bazinet ◽  
A L Katzen ◽  
M Morgan ◽  
A P Mahowald ◽  
S K Lemmon
Keyword(s):  
X Chromosome ◽  
Heavy Chain ◽  
P Element ◽  
Cdna Clones ◽  
Drosophila Genome ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Degenerate Primers ◽  
Coated Pits ◽  
Lethal Mutations ◽  
Clathrin Heavy Chain

Abstract The clathrin heavy chain (HC) is the major structural polypeptide of the cytoplasmic surface lattice of clathrin-coated pits and vesicles. As a genetic approach to understanding the role of clathrin in cellular morphogenesis and developmental signal transduction, a clathrin heavy chain (Chc) gene of Drosophila melanogaster has been identified by a combination of molecular and classical genetic approaches. Using degenerate primers based on mammalian and yeast clathrin HC sequences, a small fragment of the HC gene was amplified from genomic Drosophila DNA by the polymerase chain reaction. Genomic and cDNA clones from phage libraries were isolated and analyzed using this fragment as a probe. The amino acid sequence of the Drosophila clathrin HC deduced from cDNA sequences is 80%, 57% and 49% identical, respectively, with the mammalian, Dictyostelium and yeast HCs. Hybridization in situ to larval polytene chromosomes revealed a single Chc locus at position 13F2 on the X chromosome. A 13-kb genomic Drosophila fragment including the Chc transcription unit was reintroduced into the Drosophila genome via P element-mediated germline transformation. This DNA complemented a group of EMS-induced lethal mutations mapping to the same region of the X chromosome, thus identifying the Chc complementation group. Mutant individuals homozygous or hemizygous for the Chc1, Chc2 or Chc3 alleles developed to a late stage of embryogenesis, but failed to hatch to the first larval stage. A fourth allele, Chc4, exhibited polyphasic lethality, with a significant number of homozygous and hemizygous offspring surviving to adulthood. Germline clonal analysis of Chc mutant alleles indicated that the three tight lethal alleles were autonomous cell-lethal mutations in the female germline. In contrast, Chc4 germline clones were viable at a rate comparable to wild type, giving rise to viable adult progeny. However, hemizygous Chc4 males were invariably sterile. The sterility was efficiently rescued by an autosomal copy of the wild-type Chc gene reintroduced on a P element. These findings suggest a specialized role for clathrin in spermatogenesis.

COUPLED INSTABILITY OF TWO X-LINKED GENES IN DROSOPHILA MAURITIANA: GERMINAL AND SOMATIC MUTABILITY

Genetics ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 111 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-65
Author(s):  
James W Jacobson ◽  
Daniel L Hartl
Keyword(s):  
X Chromosome ◽  
Sibling Species ◽  
Mutation Frequency ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Drosophila Mauritiana ◽  
White Locus ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Unstable Allele

ABSTRACT A highly unstable allele has been isolated at the white locus of Drosophila mauritiana, a sibling species of D. melanogaster. This allele, white-peach (wpch), mutates spontaneously in males and females to give both wild-type and bleached-white derivatives. The mutation frequency is about 10-3 mutations/generation. There is no evidence for clustering among mutant progeny, and phenotypically wpch flies with mosaic patches of wild-type tissue in the eyes are frequently recovered. Another X-linked locus, plum, is destabilized when wpch is on the same X chromosome.

P-element-induced interallelic gene conversion of insertions and deletions in Drosophila melanogaster

1993 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 7006-7018
Author(s):  
D M Johnson-Schlitz ◽  
W R Engels
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Gene Replacement ◽  
P Element ◽  
Element Mobility ◽  
P Elements ◽  
Insertions And Deletions ◽  
Rapid Spread ◽  
White Locus ◽  
In Cis ◽  
P Transposon

We studied the process by which whd, a P-element insertion allele of the Drosophila melanogaster white locus, is replaced by its homolog in the presence of transposase. These events are interpreted as the result of double-strand gap repair following excision of the P transposon in whd. We used a series of alleles derived from whd through P-element mobility as templates for this repair. One group of alleles, referred to collectively as whd-F, carried fragments of the P element that had lost some of the sequences needed in cis for mobility. The other group, whd-D, had lost all of the P insert and had some of the flanking DNA from white deleted. The average replacement frequencies were 43% for whd-F alleles and 7% for the whd-D alleles. Some of the former were converted at frequencies exceeding 50%. Our data suggest that the high conversion frequencies for the whd-F templates can be attributed at least in part to an elevated efficiency of repair of unexpanded gaps that is possibly caused by the closer match between whd-F sequences and the unexpanded gap endpoints. In addition, we found that the gene substitutions were almost exclusively in the direction of whd being replaced by the whd-F or whd-D allele rather than the reverse. The template alleles were usually unaltered in the process. This asymmetry implies that the conversion process is unidirectional and that the P fragments are not good substrates for P-element transposase. Our results help elucidate a highly efficient double-strand gap repair mechanism in D. melanogaster that can also be used for gene replacement procedures involving insertions and deletions. They also help explain the rapid spread of P elements in populations.

scholarly journals A COMPARISON OF MUTATION RATES FOR SPECIFIC LOCI AND CHROMOSOME REGIONS IN DYSGENIC HYBRID MALES OF DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER

Genetics ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 106 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-94
Author(s):  
Michael J Simmons ◽  
John D Raymond ◽  
Nancy A Johnson ◽  
Thomas M Fahey
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
X Chromosome ◽  
The Other ◽  
Hybrid Dysgenesis ◽  
P Element ◽  
Mutation Rates ◽  
P Elements ◽  
White Locus ◽  
Insertion Mutations ◽  
Chromosome Regions

ABSTRACT The mutation rates of specific loci and chromosome regions were estimated for two types of dysgenic hybrid males. These came from crosses between P or Q males and M females in the P-M system of hybrid dysgenesis. The M × P hybrids were the more mutable for each of the loci and chromosome regions tested. The Beadex locus was highly mutable in these hybrids but did not mutate at all in the sample of gametes from the M × Q hybrids. The singed locus had 75% of the mutability of Beadex in the M × P hybrids; it was also mutable in the M × Q hybrids. The white locus was only slightly mutable in the M × P hybrids and not at all mutable in the M × Q hybrids. The mutations in singed and white probably arose from the insertion of P elements into these loci; the mutations at Beadex probably involved the action of a P element located near this locus on the X chromosome of the P strain that was used in the experiments. Mutations in two chromosome regions, one including the zeste-white loci and the other near the miniature locus, were much more frequent in the M × P hybrids than in the M × Q hybrids. These mutations also probably arose from P element insertions. The implication is that insertion mutations occur infrequently in the M × Q hybrids, possibly because most of the P elements they carry are defective. In M × P hybrids, there is variation among loci with respect to P elements mutagenesis, indicating that P elements possess a degree of insertional specificity.

scholarly journals Telomeric P elements Associated With Cytotype Regulation of the P Transposon Family in Drosophila melanogaster

Genetics ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 162 (4) ◽  
pp. 1641-1654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy R Stuart ◽  
Kevin J Haley ◽  
Douglas Swedzinski ◽  
Samuel Lockner ◽  
Paul E Kocian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
X Chromosome ◽  
Gonadal Dysgenesis ◽  
Molecular Level ◽  
P Element ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Maternal Transmission ◽  
P Elements ◽  
Male Germline ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
P Transposon

Abstract P elements inserted at the left end of the Drosophila X chromosome were isolated genetically from wild-type P strains. Stocks carrying these elements were tested for repression of P-strain-induced gonadal dysgenesis in females and for repression of transposase-catalyzed P-element excision in males and females. Both traits were repressed by stocks carrying either complete or incomplete P elements inserted near the telomere of the X chromosome in cytological region 1A, but not by stocks carrying only nontelomeric X-linked P elements. All three of the telomeric P elements that were analyzed at the molecular level were inserted in one of the 1.8-kb telomere-associated sequence (TAS) repeats near the end of the X chromosome. Stocks with these telomeric P elements strongly repressed P-element excision induced in the male germline by a P strain or by the transposase-producing transgenes H(hsp/CP)2, H(hsp/CP)3, a combination of these two transgenes, and P(ry+, Δ2-3)99B. For H(hsp/CP)2 and P(ry+, Δ2-3)99B, the repression was also effective when the flies were subjected to heat-shock treatments. However, these stocks did not repress the somatic transposase activity of P(ry+, Δ2-3)99B. Repression of transposase activity in the germline required maternal transmission of the telomeric P elements themselves. Paternal transmission of these elements, or maternal transmission of the cytoplasm from carriers, both were insufficient to repress transposase activity. Collectively, these findings indicate that the regulatory abilities of telomeric P elements are similar to those of the P cytotype.

scholarly journals Nonrecombinant meiosis I nondisjunction in Saccharomyces cerevisiae induced by tRNA ochre suppressors.

Genetics ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 123 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
E J Louis ◽  
J E Haber
Keyword(s):  
Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽  
Mitotic Chromosome ◽  
Stop Codon ◽  
Fold Increase ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Yeast Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽  
Nonsense Mutations ◽  
Chromosome Iii ◽  
Meiosis I ◽  
Chromosome Nondisjunction

Abstract The presence of the tRNA ochre suppressors SUP11 and SUP5 is found to induce meiosis I nondisjunction in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The induction increases with increasing dosage of the suppressor and decreases in the presence of an antisuppressor. The effect is independent of the chromosomal location of SUP11. Each of five different chromosomes monitored exhibited nondisjunction at frequencies of 0.1%-1.1% of random spores, which is a 16-160-fold increase over wild-type levels. Increased nondisjunction is reflected by a marked increase in tetrads with two and zero viable spores. In the case of chromosome III, for which a 50-cM map interval was monitored, the resulting disomes are all in the parental nonrecombinant configuration. Recombination along chromosome III appears normal both in meioses that have no nondisjunction and in meioses for which there was nondisjunction of another chromosome. We propose that a proportion of one or more proteins involved in chromosome pairing, recombination or segregation are aberrant due to translational read-through of the normal ochre stop codon. Hygromycin B, an antibiotic that can suppress nonsense mutations via translational read-through, also induces nonrecombinant meiosis I nondisjunction. Increases in mistranslation, therefore, increase the production of aneuploids during meiosis. There was no observable effect of SUP11 on mitotic chromosome nondisjunction; however some disomes caused SUP11 ade2-ochre strains to appear white or red, instead of pink.

scholarly journals The Mutant Phenotype Associated With P-Element Alleles of the vestigial Locus in Drosophila melanogaster May Be Caused by a Readthrough Transcript Initiated at the P-Element Promoter

Genetics ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 157 (4) ◽  
pp. 1665-1672 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ross B Hodgetts ◽  
Sandra L O'Keefe
Keyword(s):  
Rna Secondary Structure ◽  
Insertion Site ◽  
Large Body ◽  
P Element ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Subtle Difference ◽  
Pronounced Difference ◽  
Internal Repeat ◽  
Mutant Phenotypes

Abstract We report here the isolation of a new P-element-induced allele of the vestigial locus vg2a33, the molecular characterization of which allows us to propose a unifying explanation of the phenotypes of the large number of vestigial P-element alleles that now exists. The first P-element allele of vestigial to be isolated was vg21, which results in a very weak mutant wing phenotype that is suppressed in the P cytotype. By destabilizing vg2a33 in a dysgenic cross, we isolated the vg2a33 allele, which exhibits a moderate mutant wing phenotype and is not suppressed by the P cytotype. The new allele is characterized by a 46-bp deletion that removes the 3′-proximal copy of the 11-bp internal repeat from the P element of vg21. To understand how this subtle difference between the two alleles leads to a rather pronounced difference in their phenotypes, we mapped both the vg and P-element transcription units present in wild type and mutants. Using both 5′-RACE and S1 protection, we found that P-element transcription is initiated 19 bp farther upstream than previously thought. Using primer extension, the start of vg transcription was determined to lie 435 bp upstream of the longest cDNA recovered to date and upstream of the P-element insertion site. Our discovery that the P element is situated within the first vg exon has prompted a reassessment of the large body of genetic data on a series of alleles derived from vg21. Our current hypothesis to explain the degree of variation in the mutant phenotypes and their response to the P repressor invokes a critical RNA secondary structure in the vg transcript, the formation of which is hindered by a readthrough transcript initiated at the P-element promoter.

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