TITLE:
Conditional Mutations in Drosophila: Concept of Genes That Control Individual Development
AUTHORS:
Boris F. Chadov, Eugenia V. Chadova, Nina B. Fedorova
KEYWORDS:
Conditional Mutation, Ontogene, Germline, Parental Effect, Drosophila
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Bioscience and Biotechnology,
Vol.9 No.6,
June
19,
2018
ABSTRACT: The conditional mutations in D. melanogaster are produced by gamma-irradiation, maintained in
laboratory cultures, and inherited as gene mutations. However, their
manifestation differs from the conventional mutations by several specific
features. The most noticeable specific feature is their conditional nature, i.e.,
a conditional mutation manifests itself in the individuals of a certain genotype being silent in the individuals with another genotype. A
particular procedure for mutation recovery determines what these genotypes will
be. An overwhelming number of mutations are conditional
dominant lethals. The viable mutation carriers display a drastically
decreased fertility. Early zygotic lethality is inherited according to parental
type (maternal or paternal). The carriers of conditional mutations give the
offspring with a high rate of monstrosities. The possibility for the offspring
to form monstrosities is inherited according to a parental (maternal or
paternal) type. The level of fertility of conditional mutants is altered by
chromosomal rearrangements. The chromosomal rearrangements themselves cause a
decrease in fertility. Lethality of the progenies produced by the parents
carrying rearrangements is inherited according to a parental (maternal or
paternal) type. The results allow for a set of logical arguments in favor of
that 1) the genome has a specialized system of genes (ontogenes) that control
the course of individual development; 2) unlike a classical gene, acting according to the scheme DNA à RNA à protein, the ontogene implements the regulation according to the scheme DNA à RNA; and 3) the course of individual development is programmed by double-strand RNAs
produced by ontogenes in germline cells.