Y-Linked Male Sterile Mutations Induced by P Element in Drosophila melanogaster

Corresponding author: Ping Zhang, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, U-131, University of Connecticut, 354 Mansfield Road, Storrs, CT 06269., ping{at}uconnvm.uconn.edu (E-mail).

Communicating editor: S. HENIKOFF

The Y chromosome in Drosophila melanogaster is composed of highly repetitive sequences and is essential only in the male germ line. We employed P-element insertional mutagenesis to induce male sterile mutations in the Y chromosome. By using a combination of two modifiers of position effect variegation, adding an extra Y chromosome and increasing temperature, we isolated 61 P(ry⁺) elements in the Y chromosome. Six of these Y-linked insertions (approximately 10%) induced male sterile mutations that are mapped to two genes on the long and one on the short arms of the Y chromosome. These mutations are revertible to the wild type in a cell-autonomous and germ-line-dependent manner, consistent with previously defined Y-linked gene functions. Phenotypes associated with these P-induced mutations are similar to those resulting from deletions of the Y chromosome regions corresponding to the male fertility genes. Three alleles of the kl-3 gene on the Y long arm result in loss of the axonemal outer dynein arms in the spermatid tail, while three ks-2 alleles on the Y short arm induce defects at early postmeiotic stages. The recovery of the ms(Y) mutations induced by single P-element insertions will facilitate our effort to understand the structural and functional properties of the Y chromosome.

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