Molecular and Behavioral Analysis of Four period Mutants in Drosophila melanogaster Encompassing Extreme Short, Novel Long, and Unorthodox Arrhythmic Types

Corresponding author: Jeffrey C. Hall, Department of Biology, Mailstop 008, Brandeis University, 415 South Street, Waltham, MA 02254-9110, hall{at}binah.cc.brandeis.edu (E-mail).

Communicating editor: J. J. LOROS

Of the mutationally defined rhythm genes in Drosophila melanogaster, period (per) has been studied the most. We have molecularly characterized three older per mutants—per^T, per^Clk, and per⁰⁴—along with a novel long-period one (per^SLIH). Each mutant is the result of a single nucleotide change. per^T, per^Clk, and per^SLIH are accounted for by amino acid substitutions; per⁰⁴ is altered at a splice site acceptor and causes aberrant splicing. per^SLIH exhibits a long period of 27 hr in constant darkness and entrains to light/dark (L/D) cycles with a later-than-normal evening peak of locomotion. per^SLIH males are more rhythmic than females. per^SLIH's clock runs faster at higher temperatures and slower at lower ones, exhibiting a temperature-compensation defect opposite to that of per^Long. The per-encoded protein (PER) in the per^T mutant cycles in L/D with an earlier-than-normal peak; this peak in per^SLIH is later than normal, and there was a slight difference in the PER timecourse of males vs. females. PER in per⁰⁴ was undetectable. Two of these mutations, per^SLIH and per^Clk, lie within regions of PER that have not been studied previously and may define important functional domains of this clock protein.

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