- THIS ARTICLE
- Full Text (PDF)
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- SERVICES
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Alert me to new issues of the journal
- Download to citation manager
- Reprints & Permissions
- CITING ARTICLES
- Citing Articles via HighWire
- Citing Articles via Google Scholar
- GOOGLE SCHOLAR
- Articles by Dimitri, P.
- Articles by Pisano, C.
- Search for Related Content
- PUBMED
- PubMed Citation
- Articles by Dimitri, P.
- Articles by Pisano, C.
Genetics, Vol 122, 793-800, Copyright © 1989
INVESTIGATIONS |
Position Effect Variegation in Drosophila melanogaster: Relationship Between Suppression Effect and the Amount of Y Chromosome
P. Dimitri and C. Pisano
Dipartimento di Genetica e Biologia Molecolare, Universita di Roma, Piazzale A. Moro 5, 00185 Roma, Italy
Position effect variegation results from chromosome rearrangements which translocate euchromatic genes close to the heterochromatin. The euchromatin-heterochromatin association is responsible for the inactivation of these genes in some cell clones. In Drosophila melanogaster the Y chromosome, which is entirely heterochromatic, is known to suppress variegation of euchromatic genes. In the present work we have investigated the genetic nature of the variegation suppressing property of the D. melanogaster Y chromosome. We have determined the extent to which different cytologically characterized Y chromosome deficiencies and Y fragments suppress three V-type position effects: the Y-suppressed lethality, the white mottled and the brown dominant variegated phenotypes. We find that: (1) chromosomes which are cytologically different and yet retain similar amounts of heterochromatin are equally effective suppressors, and (2) suppression effect is positively related to the size of the Y chromosome deficiencies and fragments that we tested. It increases with increasing amounts of Y heterochromatin up to 60-80% of the entire Y, after which the effect reaches a plateau. These findings suggest suppression is a function of the amount of Y heterochromatin present in the genome and is not attributable to any discrete Y region.
This article has been cited by other articles:
 |
|
 |
|
  R. B. Beckstead, S. S. Ner, K. G. Hales, T. A. Grigliatti, B. S. Baker, and H. J. Bellen Bonus, a Drosophila TIF1 Homolog, Is a Chromatin-Associated Protein That Acts as a Modifier of Position-Effect Variegation Genetics, February 1, 2005; 169(2): 783 - 794. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. Y. Konev, C. M. Yan, D. Acevedo, C. Kennedy, E. Ward, A. Lim, S. Tickoo, and G. H. Karpen Genetics of P-Element Transposition Into Drosophila melanogaster Centric Heterochromatin Genetics, December 1, 2003; 165(4): 2039 - 2053. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. Briscoe , Jr. and J. E. Tomkiel Chromosomal Position Effects Reveal Different cis-Acting Requirements for rDNA Transcription and Sex Chromosome Pairing in Drosophila melanogaster Genetics, July 1, 2000; 155(3): 1195 - 1211. [Abstract] [Full Text]
|
|
|
|
|
|
B. Timakov and P. Zhang Genetic Analysis of a Y-Chromosome Region That Induces Triplosterile Phenotypes and Is Essential for Spermatid Individualization in Drosophila melanogaster Genetics, May 1, 2000; 155(1): 179 - 189. [Abstract] [Full Text]
|
|
|
|
|
|
P. B. Talbert and S. Henikoff A Reexamination of Spreading of Position-Effect Variegation in the white-roughest Region of Drosophila melanogaster Genetics, January 1, 2000; 154(1): 259 - 272. [Abstract] [Full Text]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 E. N. Tolkunova, M. Fujioka, M. Kobayashi, D. Deka, and J. B. Jaynes Two Distinct Types of Repression Domain in Engrailed: One Interacts with the Groucho Corepressor and Is Preferentially Active on Integrated Target Genes Mol. Cell. Biol., May 1, 1998; 18(5): 2804 - 2814. [Abstract] [Full Text]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. Liu and M. F. Wolfner Functional Dissection of YA, an Essential, Developmentally Regulated Nuclear Lamina Protein in Drosophila melanogaster Mol. Cell. Biol., January 1, 1998; 18(1): 188 - 197. [Abstract] [Full Text]
|
|