A 2326bp genomic fragment containing the entire coding region of Aats-tyr-m, isolated from the Oregon R strain.
The introduction of mtDNA from D. simulans, containing a mutation in a mitochondrial tRNA (Dsim\mt:tRNA:Yw501), into a D. melanogaster nuclear background, containing a transgenic mutation in the corresponding mitochondria-localized aminoacyl tRNA synthetase (Aats-tyr-mtOre, Df(2R)BSC606), is used to model mitochondrial disease resulting from incompatibility between the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes.
When the 'simw[501]' mitochondrial genome, which contains the Dsim\mt:tRNA:Yw501 allele, is paired with the nuclear Aats-tyr-mtOre mutant allele (Aats-tyr-mtOre, Df(2R)BSC606), the following phenotypes are observed (compared to pairing with the wild type nuclear Aats-tyr-mtAutW132 allele (Aats-tyr-mtAutW132, Df(2R)BSC606)): scutellar bristle length is shorter; flight performance is poorer; climbing ability is stronger; indirect flight muscle mitochondria per unit area are increased, mitochondria display severely abnormal morphology and have large gaps in cristae structure.
Aats-tyr-mtOre does not rescue the developmental delay seen in mitochondrial-nuclear hybrid strains containing the D. melanogaster nuclear genome and a D. simulans mitochondrial genome where the nuclear genome contains Aats-tyr-mOre/Df(2R)BSC606 and the mitochondrial genome contains Dsim\mt:tRNA:Yw501.