Summary
The cytoplasm of a laboratory strain CyL4/Pm was found to suppress the activities of the 31·1 MRF but not those of the 23·5 MRF. However, this strain induces neither male recombination nor sterility which are the main properties of the MRFs. By measuring, in successive generations, the female sterility in two series of established strains (one received the cytoplasm of the Cy LA/Pm strain and the other of the M-5; dp; Ubx/Sb) when crossed with 31·1/CyL4 males, we have been able to show that: (a) the suppressor factor is controlled by the nucleus and the CyL4 or Pm chromosomes are mainly responsible for its development; (b) the chromosome III of the Cy L4/Pm strain induces either lower quantities of the suppressor or an altered substance incapable of completely suppressing the 31·1 MRF and (c) the cytoplasmic suppressor of the Cy L4/Pm strain may be responsible for the stimulation of pre-existing genes which are located on the Ubx or Sb chromosomes and are capable of synthesizing the suppressing substance(s). By using the 23·5 MRF it was shown that the suppressor activity developed by the established strains is identical with that of the Cy L4/Pm strain.
The existence of a possible relationship in the nature of both, 31·1 MRF genetic elements and the genetic factors responsible for the development of the suppressor in the Cy L4/Pm strain, as well as the role of the suppressors in the maintenance of the MRFs in natural populations, are also discussed.
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Yannopoulos, G., Stamatis, N. & Zacharopoulou, A. Genetic studies of a cytoplasmic suppressor which inactivates the male recombination factor 31·1 MRF in Drosophila melanogaster. Heredity 49, 235–241 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1982.89
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1982.89