Patterns of DNA replication in Drosophila polytene nuclei replicating in Xenopus egg and oocyte extracts

We have used Xenopus laevis cell-free extracts to study patterns of DNA replication in polytene nuclei isolated from salivary glands of Drosophila melanogaster 3rd instar larvae. Replication was visualized by supplementation with biotin-dUTP so that nascent DNA became labelled, thus allowing detection with fluorescein or Texas-Red-conjugated streptavidin. Biotin incorporation was dependent on incubation in extracts. Transverse bands were labelled in high-speed supernatants of eggs or oocytes in which replication does not initiate de novo. These patterns corresponded to the patterns of endogenous replication forks in polytene nuclei, monitored by bromodeoxyuridine incorporation in intact salivary glands. By contrast, when nuclei were incubated in low-speed supernatants of eggs, they underwent more extensive chromatin decondensation and initiated replication. The spatial patterns of replication are strikingly different from the endogenous patterns. Instead they closely resemble patterns of clustered replication forks seen in Xenopus sperm nuclei replicating in the extract. This indicates that the egg extract can impose its pattern of replication foci even when the template is presented in the highly organized form of a polytene nucleus.

The three-dimensional organization of polytene nuclei in male Drosophila melanogaster with compound XY or ring X chromosomes.

The three-dimensional organization of polytene chromosomes within nuclei containing rearranged X chromosomes was examined in male Drosophila melanogaster. Salivary glands of third instar larvae containing either an inverted X chromosome (YSX.YL, In(1)EN/O) or a ring X chromosome (R(1) 2/BSYy+) were fixed, embedded, and serially sectioned. The nuclei in contiguous groups of cells were modeled and analyzed. We find that for both genotypes the three-dimensional behavior at each euchromatic locus is independent of the orientation of the chromosome on which it resides, independent of the behavior of loci not closely linked to it, and not similar in neighboring cells. The preference for right-handed chromosome coiling noted in previous studies is shown to be independent of homologous pairing. However, a relation between the extent of chromosome curvature and the handedness of chromosome coiling is present only in homologously paired chromosomes. The attached-XY chromosome has two previously undescribed behaviors: a nearly invariant association of the euchromatic side of the proximal heterochromatin/euchromatin junction with the nucleolus and a frequent failure of this site to attach to the chromocenter. The relative chromosome arm positions are often similar in several neighboring cells. The size of these patches of cells, assuming that they represent clones, indicates that such arrangements are at best quasi-stable: they may be maintained over at least one, but less than four, cell divisions. The observed nuclear organization in salivary glands is inconsistent with the idea that position in the polytene nucleus plays a major role in the normal genetic regulation of euchromatic loci.