Balasov, M.L., Beliaeva, E.S., Shestopal, S.A., Makunin, I.V., Zhimulev, I.F. (2000). [Position effect variegation of the mosaic type, arising as a result of transposition AR4-24P[white, rosy] in the Drosophila melanogaster genome.]  Genetika, Moscow 36(6): 782--791.

FBrf0129720

Research paper

A line with the mosaic expression of the white+ transgene was obtained by inducing transposition of the AR4-24P[white, rosy] transposon and was used for the second round of induction. As a result, 57 lines with the mosaic eye pigmentation were obtained. In situ hybridization and Southern blotting showed that genomic DNA fragments flanking AR4-24 were, in some cases, transposed together with the transposon. A spontaneous loss of these fragments resulted in reversion to the wild-type phenotype. The mosaic eye pigmentation in a line that carried the AR4-24 transposon flanked with the same fragments in region 24D1-2 was not affected by the Su(var)3-6 gene modifying position effect variegation (PEV). Other PEV modifiers, Su(var)3-9 and Su(var)2-5, had only a slight effect on PEV; Su(var)3-7 restored the wild-type phenotype. The genomic fragments captured by the transposon may contain DNA sequences that autonomously induce mosaic PEV of the white gene.