Biomaterial Database

Male-killing selfish cytoplasmic element causes sex-ratio distortion in Drosophila melanogaster. 2000

H Montenegro, and W N Souza, and D da Silva Leite, and L B Klaczko

Departamento de Genética e Evolução, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, UNICAMP, Campinas, CEP 13083-970, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Sex ratio distortion induced by a male-killing agent has been found to affect Drosophila melanogaster. The trait was discovered accidentally in a collection of flies from markets in Campinas, São Paulo State, Brazil. Repeated crosses with Canton-S males (for 15 generations to date) and successful transmission using the injection of macerates of sex ratio flies, have shown that the trait is inherited maternally, is cytoplasmic and is infectious. Crosses with strains marked with the visible mutation white and viability experiments at pre-adult stages of development, indicate that the skewed sex ratio results from male mortality before hatching. Males do not transmit the trait to their progeny.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D009154	Mutation	Any detectable and heritable change in the genetic material that causes a change in the GENOTYPE and which is transmitted to daughter cells and to succeeding generations.	Mutations
D001938	Brazil	A country located on the eastern coast of South America, located between Colombia and Peru, that borders the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered on the north by Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, on the south by Uruguay, and on the west by Argentina. The capital is Brasilia.
D003433	Crosses, Genetic	Deliberate breeding of two different individuals that results in offspring that carry part of the genetic material of each parent. The parent organisms must be genetically compatible and may be from different varieties or closely related species.	Cross, Genetic,Genetic Cross,Genetic Crosses
D003593	Cytoplasm	The part of a cell that contains the CYTOSOL and small structures excluding the CELL NUCLEUS; MITOCHONDRIA; and large VACUOLES. (Glick, Glossary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 1990)	Protoplasm,Cytoplasms,Protoplasms
D004331	Drosophila melanogaster	A species of fruit fly frequently used in genetics because of the large size of its chromosomes.	D. melanogaster,Drosophila melanogasters,melanogaster, Drosophila
D005260	Female		Females
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D012744	Sex Ratio	The number of males per 100 females.	Ratio, Sex,Ratios, Sex,Sex Ratios
D018392	Genomic Imprinting	The variable phenotypic expression of a GENE depending on whether it is of paternal or maternal origin, which is a function of the DNA METHYLATION pattern. Imprinted regions are observed to be more methylated and less transcriptionally active. (Segen, Dictionary of Modern Medicine, 1992)	Genetic Imprinting,Parental Imprinting,Imprinting, Genetic,Imprinting, Genomic,Imprinting, Parental