Originally published as Genetics Published Articles Ahead of Print on August 17, 2009.

Genetics, Vol. 183, 1187-1193, November 2009, Copyright © 2009
doi:10.1534/genetics.109.108472

Removal of the Bloom Syndrome DNA Helicase Extends the Utility of Imprecise Transposon Excision for Making Null Mutations in Drosophila

Alice Witsell^*, Daniel P. Kane^*, Sarah Rubin^* and Mitch McVey^*,,1

^* Department of Biology, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts 02155 and Program in Genetics, Tufts Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences, Boston, Massachusetts 02111

¹ Corresponding author: Tufts University, Department of Biology, 165 Packard Ave., Dana 120, Medford, MA 02155.
E-mail: mitch.mcvey{at}tufts.edu

Transposable elements are frequently used in Drosophila melanogaster for imprecise excision screens to delete genes of interest. However, these screens are highly variable in the number and size of deletions that are recovered. Here, we show that conducting excision screens in mus309 mutant flies that lack DmBlm, the Drosophila ortholog of the Bloom syndrome protein, increases the percentage and overall size of flanking deletions recovered after excision of either P or Minos elements.

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