BOTH NUCLEOLAR ORGANIZERS ARE REPLICATED IN DIPTERAN POLYPLOID TISSUES: A STUDY AT THE LEVEL OF INDIVIDUAL NUCLEI

Esther J. Belikoff ¹ and Kathy Beckingham ¹

¹ Department of Biochemistry, Rice University, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, Texas 77251

Working with the Dipteran Calliphora erythrocephala, we have tested the hypothesis that only one nucleolar organizer region (NO) is replicated during polyploidization. NO replication was examined in two very different highly polyploid nuclear types: salivary gland nuclei and nurse cell nuclei. Two strains of the organism containing NO regions with highly diagnostic nontranscribed spacer (NTS) polymorphisms were prepared and reciprocal single pair-matings between members of the strains were performed. The representation of the two distinguishable NOs in diploid and polyploid DNAs of individual F₁ progeny from each cross was then examined. DNA from a total polyploid nuclear DNA preparation and from individual polyploid nuclei of both tissue types was analyzed. Our results show conclusively that both genomic NOs are replicated in individual polyploid nuclei of both types. Further, evidence for variation in the relative replication of cistrons from the two NOs by individual nuclei was obtained. The cistron types present in the NOs of both strains showed differential replication upon polyploidization. In general, the patterns of differential cistron replication seen in salivary gland and nurse cell nuclei were similar.