Biomaterial Database

Genetic analysis of transdetermination in Drosophila. II. Transdetermination to wing of leg discs from a mutant which lacks wing discs. 1984

G Wurst, and E Hersperger, and A Shearn

Drosophila melanogaster larvae homozygous for lethal mutations at the L6 locus have no wing discs. However, like wild-type leg discs, leg discs from such mutant larvae can transdetermine to wing. Apparently such a transdetermination event bypasses the block to wing disc development caused by mutations at this locus. In order to evaluate the significance of this observation we have examined the cell autonomy of the mutant phenotype and the capacity of mutant larvae to support the growth of normal wing discs. The mutation appears not to be expressed cell autonomously, yet mutant larvae can support the growth of normal wing discs. One way of resolving these paradoxical results is to hypothesize that the normal product of the L6 gene is essential only for an initial step of wing disc development. According to this hypothesis, the fact that mutant leg discs can transdetermine to wing implies that transdetermination does not proceed by recapitulating that step of normal wing disc development.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
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
D010641	Phenotype	The outward appearance of the individual. It is the product of interactions between genes, and between the GENOTYPE and the environment.	Phenotypes
D002454	Cell Differentiation	Progressive restriction of the developmental potential and increasing specialization of function that leads to the formation of specialized cells, tissues, and organs.	Differentiation, Cell,Cell Differentiations,Differentiations, Cell
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
D005121	Extremities	The farthest or outermost projections of the body, such as the HAND and FOOT.	Limbs,Extremity,Limb
D006720	Homozygote	An individual in which both alleles at a given locus are identical.	Homozygotes
D000483	Alleles	Variant forms of the same gene, occupying the same locus on homologous CHROMOSOMES, and governing the variants in production of the same gene product.	Allelomorphs,Allele,Allelomorph
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
D013696	Temperature	The property of objects that determines the direction of heat flow when they are placed in direct thermal contact. The temperature is the energy of microscopic motions (vibrational and translational) of the particles of atoms.	Temperatures
D014921	Wings, Animal	Movable feathered or membranous paired appendages by means of which certain animals such as birds, bats, or insects are able to fly.	Animal Wing,Animal Wings,Wing, Animal