A Reexamination of Spreading of Position-Effect Variegation in the white-roughest Region of Drosophila melanogaster

In Drosophila, heterochromatin causes mosaic silencing of euchromatic genes brought next to it by chromosomal rearrangements. Silencing has been observed to “spread”: genes closer to the heterochromatic rearrangement breakpoint are silenced more frequently than genes farther away. We have examined silencing of the white and roughest genes in the variegating rearrangements In(1)wm4, In(1)wmMc, and In(1)wm51b. Eleven stocks bearing these chromosomes differ widely in the strength of silencing of white and roughest. Stock-specific differences in the relative frequencies of inactivation of white and roughest were found that map to the white-roughest region or the adjacent heterochromatin. Most stock-specific differences did not correlate with gross differences in the heterochromatic content of the rearranged chromosomes; however, two stocks, In(1)wm51b and In(1)wmMc, were found to have anomalous additional heterochromatin that may act in trans to suppress variegating alleles. In comparing different stocks, the frequency of silencing of the roughest gene, which is more distant from heterochromatin, does not correlate with the frequency of silencing of the more proximal white gene on the same chromosome, in contradiction to the expectation of models of continuous linear propagation of silencing. We frequently observed rough eye tissue that is pigmented, as though an active white gene is skipped.

A Quantitative Measure of the Mitotic Pairing of Alleles in Drosophila melanogaster and the Influence of Structural Heterozygosity

In Drosophila there exist several examples of gene expression that can be modified by an interaction between alleles; this effect is known as transvection. The inference that alleles interact comes from the observations that homologous chromosomes pair in mitotically dividing cells, and that chromosome rearrangements can alter the phenotype produced by a pair of alleles. It is thought that heterozygous rearrangements impede the ability of alleles to pair and interact. However, because the existing data are inconsistent, this issue is not fully settled. By measuring the frequency of site-specific recombination between homologous chromosomes, we show that structural heterozygosity inhibits the pairing of alleles that lie distal to a rearrangement breakpoint. We suggest that some of the apparent conflicts may owe to variations in cell-cycle lengths in the tissues where the relevant allelic interactions occur. Cells with a longer cell cycle have more time to establish the normal pairing relationships that have been disturbed by rearrangements. In support, we show that Minute mutations, which slow the rate of cell division, partially restore a transvection effect that is disrupted by inversion heterozygosity.

The adenosine2 gene of Drosophila melanogaster encodes a formylglycineamide ribotide amidotransferase

Drosophila melanogaster genomic DNA spanning an adenosine2 gene rearrangement breakpoint (in cytological map region 26B1-2) was cloned and a composite ade2 base sequence was derived from this DNA and from a corresponding cDNA. Based on genetic evidence, the ade2 gene is thought to encode the purine biosynthetic enzyme formylglycineamide ribotide amidotransferase (FGARAT). The cDNA hybridizes to a 4.8-kb message that encodes a 1354 amino acid polypeptide with extensive similarity to Escherichia coli FGARAT. The D. melanogaster FGARAT amino acid sequence is considerably more like that of the E. coli enzyme than is the FGARAT of B. subtilis, which has two polypeptides with, collectively, 969 amino acids. It is suggested that the taxonomically anomalous similarity between the eukaryotic FGARAT and that from E. coli may indicate horizontal exchange of genetic material. On the basis of substantially greater conservation of sequences snared by all three species compared with those present only in E. coli and D. melanogaster, we suggest that no radical alteration of enzymatic function accompanied the transition between the single-gene and the two-gene state.Key words: Drosophila melanogaster, purine biosynthesis genes, formylglycineamide ribotide amidotransferase, formylglycineamidine ribotide synthase, adenosine2 locus, horizontal gene transfer.

Rearrangement and expression of erythropoietin genes in transformed mouse cells.

The erythroleukemia cell line IW32, derived by transformation with the Friend murine leukemia virus, has been shown previously to produce erythropoietin (EPO) constitutively. Here we demonstrate that, in addition to the normal mouse EPO locus, this cell line has another EPO locus which has undergone rearrangement and amplification. Both loci were cloned, and the rearrangement breakpoint of the second EPO locus was located within a 1.1-kilobase region upstream of an otherwise apparently normal EPO gene. There are no viral sequences present in the immediate vicinity of the rearranged EPO gene. DNase I digestion studies suggest that the rearranged gene is in a region where the chromatin is more sensitive to DNase hydrolysis than is the site of the normal gene. We conclude, tentatively, that the rearranged EPO locus is probably the transcriptionally active one and that either proviral sequences are acting at a distance to activate the EPO gene or the rearrangement itself has served to activate the gene.