Summary
Transformations of tumorous-head Drosophila melanogaster were examined in order to investigate whether head structures were replaced by specific abdominal structures. Heads selected for the presence of genital structures were analyzed in detail. Female abnormalities included any combination of vaginal teeth, vulvar papillae, sensilla trichodea, abdominal tergites 6 (T6), 7 (T7), 8 (T8) and anal plate. Anal plate was observed in the prefrons and rostral membrane, while all other genital structures were intimately associated with modified shingle cuticle. Male abnormalities included transformation of antennal structures to penis, clasper teeth, lateral plate, anal plate and eye to T6. The distribution of each type of homeotic structure was confined to general regions of the eye-antenna, with no precise dividing lines between them. However, the spatial sequence of homeotic structures in the eye-antenna was generally the same as the sequence of the same structures in the posterior abdomen.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Awad AAM, Gausz J, Gyurkovics H, Parducz A (1981) A new homeotic mutation, SGA62, in Drosophila melanogaster. Acta Biol Acad Sci Hung 32:219–228
Bender W, Akam M, Karch F, Beachy PA, Peifer M, Spierer P, Lewis EB, Hogness DS (1983) Molecular genetics of the bithorax complex in Drosophila melanogaster. Science 221:23–29
Bryant PJ (1978) Pattern formation in imaginal discs. In: Ashburner M, Wright TRF (eds) The genetics and biology of Drosophila. Academic Press, New York and London, pp 229–335
Casanova E, Sánchez-Herrero E, Morata G (1986) Identification and characterization of a parasegment specific regulatory element of the Abdominal-B gene of Drosophila. Cell 47:627–636
Cook JL (1981) The gradient effect of homoeotic transformations in the tumorous-head mutant of Drosophila melanogaster. M.S. Thesis, University of Central Florida
Gardner EJ, Woolf CM (1949) Maternal effect involved in the inheritance of abnormal growths in the head region of Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 34:573–585
Karch F, Weiffenbach B, Peifer M, Bender W, Duncan I, Celniker S, Crosby M, Lewis EB (1985) The abdominal region of the bithorax complex. Cell 43:81–96
Kuhn DT, Dorgan SF (1975) Homoeotic effect of the tumoroushead mutant and differential effect of an enhancer gene in the tumorous-head strain of Drosophila melanogaster. Can J Genet Cytol 17:423–432
Kuhn DT, Züst B, Illmensee K (1979) Autonomous differentiation of the tumorous-head phenotype in Drosophila melanogaster. Molec Gen Genet 168:117–124
Kuhn DT, Woods DF, Andrew DJ (1981) Deletion analysis of the tumorous-head (tuh-3) gene in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 99:99–107
Lewis EB (1978) A gene complex controlling segmentation in Drosophila. Nature 276:565–570
Lewis EB (1981 a) Control of body segment differentiation in Drosophila by the bithorax gene complex. In: Burger M (ed) Embryonic Development: Genes and Cells. Proceedings of the IX Congress of the International Society of Developmental Biology. AR Liss, New York, pp 269–289
Lewis EB (1981 b) Developmental genetics of the bithorax complex in Drosophila. In: Brown DD, Fox CF (eds) Developmental Biology Using Purified Genes, ICN-UCLA Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology. Academic Press, New York and London, pp 189–208
Lindsley DJ, Grell EL (1968) Genetic variations of Drosophila melanogaster. Carnegie Inst Wash Publ 627
Newby WW (1949) Abnormal growths on the head of Drosophila melanogaster. J Morphol 85:177–196
Nöthiger R, Dübendorfer A, Epper F (1977) Gynandromorphs reveal two separate primordia for male and female genitalia in Drosophila melanogaster. Roux's Arch 181:367–373
Postlethwait JH, Bryant PJ, Schubiger G (1972) The homoeotic effect of “tumorous-head” in Drosophila melanogaster. Dev Biol 29:337–342
Sánchez-Herrero E, Vernos I, Marco R, Morata G (1985) Genetic organization of Drosophila bithorax complex. Nature 313:108–113
Tiong S, Bone LM, Whittle RS (1985) Recessive lethal mutations within the bithorax-complex in Drosophila. Mol Gen Genet 200:335–342
Woolf CM (1966) Maternal effect influencing male genital disc development in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 53:295–302
Woolf CM (1968a) Male genital disc defect in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 60:111–121
Woolf CM (1968b) Principles of Biometry. D. Van Nostrand, Princeton, New Jersey
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kuhn, D.T., Cook, J.L. The type and location of homeotic transformations in the tumorous-head mutant of Drosophila melanogaster . Roux's Arch Dev Biol 197, 40–48 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00376040
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00376040