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A model system for analyzing somatic mutations in Drosophila melanogaster

Nature Methods volume 4, pages 401–403 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Presently there are no good assays for comparing somatic mutation frequencies and spectra between different vertebrate and invertebrate organisms. Here we describe a new lacZ mutation reporter system in D. melanogaster, which complements existing systems in the mouse. The results obtained with the new model indicate two-to threefold higher frequencies of spontaneous mutations than in the mouse, with most of the mutations characterized as large genome rearrangements.

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Figure 1: Schematic depiction of the pUR288-S mutation reporter model in D. melanogaster.
Figure 2: Mutant frequencies and spectra in D. melanogaster.

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Acknowledgements

We thank P. Kapahi for critical comments and valuable suggestions. This work was supported by a grant from the US National Institutes of Health (AG20438).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, 78249, Texas, USA

    Ana Maria Garcia, Ernesto Perez Jr & Martha Lundell

  2. University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, 78229, Texas, USA

    Anastasia Derventzi & Linda Chadwell

  3. Buck Institute for Age Research, 8001 Redwood Blvd., Novato, 94945, California, USA

    Rita Busuttil, R Brent Calder & Jan Vijg

  4. National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, 3720 BA, The Netherlands

    Martijn E T Dollé

Authors
  1. Ana Maria Garcia
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  2. Anastasia Derventzi
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  3. Rita Busuttil
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  4. R Brent Calder
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  5. Ernesto Perez Jr
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  6. Linda Chadwell
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  7. Martijn E T Dollé
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  8. Martha Lundell
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  9. Jan Vijg
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Contributions

J.V. conceived, designed and supervised the study (initially with M.E.T.D.), obtained the funding and took the primary role in writing the manuscript. A.M.G. designed and performed most of the experiments, with A.D., assisted by R.B. and E.P. M.L. generated the transgenic flies (assisted by L.C.) and supervised the final experiments. R.B.C. provided statistical support.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jan Vijg.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Fig. 1

Complete pCasper/pUR288-S nucleotide sequence. (PDF 47 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 2

Background mutant frequencies and spectra. (PDF 224 kb)

Supplementary Table 1

Sequenced size-change mutants recovered from line 11. (PDF 39 kb)

Supplementary Methods (PDF 73 kb)

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Garcia, A., Derventzi, A., Busuttil, R. et al. A model system for analyzing somatic mutations in Drosophila melanogaster. Nat Methods 4, 401–403 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth1027

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