Tanaka, M.M., Liang, X.M., Gray, Y.H.M., Sved, J.A. (1997). The accumulation of P-element-induced recombinants in the germline of male Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 147(4): 1769--1782.
FlyBase ID
FBrf0099766
Publication Type
Research paper
Abstract
P-element-induced recombination in Drosophila melanogaster occurs premeiotically. Recombinants are therefore expected to accumulate in the stem cells of the germline of P-element-carrying males. We show that both the recombination frequency and the incidence of "clustering" increase with the age of males carrying various P-element derivatives. The combination of end-deleted elements can lead to average recombination frequencies >50% with individual instances of 100% recombination. These elements also lowered the fertility of the carriers. We investigated these features by constructing an analytical and a computer simulation model of the course of events in the germline, incorporating the recently proposed hybrid element insertion (HEI) model of P-element activity. The model is able to predict extreme recombination levels, segregation ratio biases and lowered fertility through cell death in a single analysis.
