Abstract
By applying quinacrine-, Hoechst- and N-banding techniques to neuroblast prometaphase chromosomes the Y chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster can be differentiated into 25 regions defined by the degree of fluorescence, the stainability after N-banding and the presence of constrictions. Thus these banding techniques provide an array of cytological landmarks along the Y chromosome that makes it comparable to a polytene chromosome for cytogenetic analysis. — 206 Y-autosome translocations (half of them carrying Y-linked sterile mutations) and 24 sterile y + Y chromosomes were carefully characterized by these banding techniques and used in extensive complementation analyses. The results of these experiments showed that: (1) there are four linearly ordered fertility factors in Y L and two fertility factors in Y S. (2) These fertility factors map to characteristic regions of the Y chromosome, specifically stained with the N-banding procedure. (3) The most extensively analyzed fertility factors are defined by a series of cytologically non-overlapping and genetically noncomplementing breaks and deficiencies distributed over large chromosome regions. For example, the breakpoints which inactivate the kl-5 and ks-1 loci are scattered along regions that contain about 3,000 kilobases (kb) DNA. Since these enormous regions formally define single genetic functions, the fertility genes of the Y chromosome have an as yet unappreciated physical dimension, being larger than euchromatic genes by two orders of magnitude.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Andrews RM, Williamson JH (1975) On the nature of Y chromosome fragments in Drosophila melanogaster females. III. C(1)RA vs C(1)RM females. Mut Res 33:213–220
Appels R, Peacock WJ (1978) The arrangement and evolution of highly repeated (satellite) DNA sequences with special reference to Drosophila. In Rev Cyt Suppl 8:69–126
Baker WK, Spofford JB (1959) Heterochromatic control of position-effect variegation in Drosophila. Univ. of Texas Publ 5915:135–154
Barigozzi C, Dolfini S, Fraccaro M, Rezzonico Raimondi G, Tiepolo L (1966) In vitro study of the DNA replication patterns of somatic chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster. Exp Cell Res 43:231–234
Bonaccorsi S, Pimpinelli S, Gatti M (1981) Cytological dissection of sex chromosome heterochromatin of Drosophila hydei. Chromosoma 84:391–403
Bridges CB (1916) Non-disjunction as proof of the chromosome theory of heredity. Genetics 1:1–52, 107–163
Brosseau GE (1960) Genetic analysis of the male fertility factors on the Y chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 45:257–274
Brosseau GE (1964) Non-randomness in the recovery of detachments from the reversed metacentric compound X chromosome in Drosophila melanogaster. Can J Genet Cytol 6:201–206
Brosseau GE, Nicoletti B, Grell EH, Lindsley DL (1961) Production of altered Y chromosomes bearing specific sections of the X chromosome in Drosophila. Genetics 46:339–346
Brutlag D, Appels R, Dennis ES, Peacock WJ (1977) Highly repeated DNA in Drosophila melanogaster. J Mol Biol 112:31–47
Brutlag D, Carlson M, Fry K, Hsieh TS (1978) DNA sequence organization in Drosophila heterochromatin. Cold Spring Harbor Symp Quant Biol XLII:1137–1146
Comings DE (1975) Mechanisms of chromosome banding. VIII. Hoechst 33258-DNA interaction. Chromosoma 52:229–243
Comings DE (1978) Mechanisms of chromosome banding and implications for chromosome structure. Ann Rev Genet 12:25–46
Cooper KW (1952) On the location of y+ and ac+ in sc8·Y. Dros Inf Serv 26:97
Cooper KW (1959) Cytogenetic analysis of major heterochromatic elements (especially Xh and Y) in Drosophila melanogaster, and the theory of “heterochromatin”. Chromosoma 10:535–588
Cooper KW (1964) Meiotic conjunctive elements not involving chiasmata. Proc. Natl Acad Sci 52:1248–1255
Faust J, Vogel W (1974) Are “N-bands” selective staining of specific heterochromatin? Nature 249:352–353
Funaki K, Matsui S, Sasaki M (1975) Location of nucleolar organizers in animal and plant chromosomes by means of an improved N-banding technique. Chromosoma 49:357–370
Gatti M, Pimpinelli S, Santini G (1976) Characterization of Drosophila heterochromatin. I. Staining and decondensation with Hoechst 33258 and Quinacrine. Chromosoma 75:351–375
Gerlach WL (1977) N-banded karyotypes of wheat species. Chromosoma 62:49–56
Goldstein LSB, Hardy RB, Lindsley DL (1983) Structural genes on the Y chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster. Proc Natl Acad Sci 79:7405–7409
Hackstein JHP, Leoncini O, Beck H, Peelen G, Hennig W (1982) Genetic fine structure of the Y chromosome of Drosophila hydei. Genetics 101:257–277
Hardy RW, Kennison JA (1980) Identification of a small Y chromosome region responsible for meiocyte and spermatid abnormalities typically observed in XO males. Dros Inf Serv 55:55–56
Hardy RW, Tokuyasu KT, Lindsley DL (1981) Analysis of spermatogenesis in Drosophila melanogaster bearing deletions for Y-chromosome fertility genes. Chromosoma 83:593–617
Heitz E (1933) Cytologische Untersuchungen an Dipteren. III. Die somatische Heteropyknose bei Drosophila melanogaster und ihre genetische Bedeutung. Z Zellforsch 20:237–287
Hennig W (1978) The lampbrush Y chromosome of the fruit fly species Drosophila hydei (Diptera: Drosophilidae). Entomol Germ 4:200–210
Hilliker AJ (1976) Genetic analysis of the centromeric heterochromatin of chromosome 2 of Drosophila melanogaster: Deficiency mapping of EMS-induced lethal complementation groups. Genetics 83:765–782
Hilliker AJ, Appels R (1982) Pleiotropic effects associated with the deletion of heterochromatin surrounding rDNA on the X chromosome of Drosophila. Chromosoma 86:469–490
Hilliker AJ, Holm DG (1975) Genetic analysis of the proximal region of chromosome 2 of Drosophila melanogaster. I. Detachment products of compound autosomes. Genetics 81:705–721
Holmquist G (1975) Hoechst 33258 fluorescent staining of Drosophila chromosomes. Chromosoma 49:333–356
Hsu TC (1971) Heterochromatin pattern in metaphase chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster. J Hered 62:285–287
Judd BH, Shen MW, Kaufman TC (1972) The anatomy and function of a segment of the X chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 71:139–156
Kennison JA (1981) The genetic and cytological organization of the Y chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 98:529–548
Kennison JA (1983) Analysis of Y-linked mutations to male sterility in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 103:219–234
Latt SA, Wohlleb JC (1975) Optical studies of the interaction of 33258 Hoechst with DNA, chromatin, and metaphase chromosomes. Chromosoma 52:297–316
Levis R, Bingham PM, Rubin GM (1982) Physical map of the white locus of Drosophila melanogaster. Proc Natl Acad Sci 79:564–568
Lifschytz E, Hareven D (1977) Gene expression and the control of spermatid morphogenesis in Drosophila melanogaster. Dev Biol 58:276–294
Lifschytz E, Meyer GF (1977) Characterization of male meioticsterile mutations. The genetic control of meiotic divisions and gametogenesis. Chromosoma 64:371–392
Lifschytz E, Hareven D, Azriel A, Brodsly H (1983) DNA clones and RNA transcripts of four lampbrush loops from the Y chromosome of Drosophila hydei. Cell 32:191–199
Lindsley DL, Grell EH (1968) Genetic variations of Drosophila melanogaster. Washington DC, Carnegie Inst Wash Publ No 627
Lindsley DL, Tokuyasu KT (1980) Spermatogenesis. In: Ashburner M, Wright TRF (eds) The Genetics and biology of Drosophila, Vol 2d, Academic Press London pp 225–294
Lindsley DL, Sandler L, Baker BS, Carpenter ATC, Denell RE, Hall JC, Jacobs PA, Miklos GLG, Davis BK, Gethmann RC, Hardy RW, Hessler A, Miller SM, Nozawa H, Parry DM, Gould-Somero M (1972) Segmentai aneuploidy and the genetic gross structure of the Drosophila genome. Genetics 71:157–184
Lovett J (1983) Molecular aspects of Y chromosome function in Drosophila melanogaster spermiogenesis. PhD thesis, Indiana University, Bloomington
Lucchesi JC (1965) The nature of induced exchanges between the attached-X and Y chromosomes in Drosophila melanogaster females. Genetics 51:209–216
Marsh JL, Wieschaus E (1978) Is sex determination in germ line and soma controlled by separate genetic mechanisms? Nature 272:249–251
Matsui S, Sasaki M (1973) Differential staining of nucleolus organisers in mammalian chromosomes. Nature 246:148–150
Merriam JR (1968) FM7: first multiple seven. Dros Inf Serv 43:64
Meyer GF, Hess O, Beermann W (1961) Phasenspezifische Funktionsstrukturen in den Spermatocytenkernen von Drosophila melanogaster und ihre Abhängigkeit vom Y-chromosom. Chromosoma 12:676–716
Muller HJ (1948) The construction of several new types of Y chromosomes. Dros Inf Serv 22:73–74
Neuhaus ME (1938) A cytogenetic study of the Y-chromosome in Drosophila melanogaster. Biol Zh 7:335–358
Neuhaus ME (1939) A cytogenetic study of the Y-chromosome in Drosophila melanogaster. J Genetics 37:229–254
Nicoletti B, Lindsley DL (1960) Translocations between the X and Y chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 45:1705–1722
Parker DR (1967) Induced heterologous exchange in Drosophila. I. Exchanges between Y and fourth chromosomes. Mutat Res 4:333–337
Peacock WJ, Lohe AR, Gerlach WL, Dunsmuir P, Dennis ES, Appels R (1978) Fine structure and evolution of DNA in heterochromatin. Cold Spring Harbor Symp Quant Biol 42:1121–1135
Pimpinelli S, Santini G, Gatti M (1976) Characterization of Drosophila heterochromatin. II. C- and N-banding. Chromosoma 57:377–386
Pimpinelli S, Santini G, Gatti M (1978) 3H-Actinomycin-D binding to mitotic chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster. Chromosoma 66:389–395
Rasch EM, Barr HJ, Rasch RW (1971) The DNA content of sperm of Drosophila melanogaster. Chromosoma 33:1–18
Ritossa F (1976) The bobbed locus. In: Ashburner M, Novitski E (eds) The genetics and biology of Drosophila. Vol 1b, Academic Press, London, pp 801–846
Schnedl W (1978) Structure and variability of human chromosomes analyzed by recent techniques. Hum Genet 41:1–9
Spofford J (1976) Position effect variegation in Drosophila. In: Ashburner M, Novitski E (eds). The genetics and biology of Drosophila. Vol 1c, Academic Press, London, pp 955–1018
Steffensen DL, Appels R, Peacock WJ (1981) The distribution of two highly repeated DNA sequences within Drosophila melanogaster chromosomes. Chromosoma 82:525–541
Stern C (1929) Untersuchungen über Aberrationen des Y-chromosoms von Drosophila melanogaster. Z indukt Abstamm Vererblehre 51:253–353
Vogt P, Hennig W, Siegmund I (1982) Identification of cloned Y chromosomal DNA sequences from a lampbrush loop of Drosophila hydei. Proc Natl Acad Sci 79:5132–5136
Williamson JH (1970) Ethyl methanesulfonate-induced mutants in the Y chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster. Mutat Res 10:597–605
Williamson JH (1972) Allelic complementation between mutants in the fertility factors of the Y chromosome in Drosophila melanogaster. Molec Gen Genet 119:43–47
Williamson JH (1976) The genetics of the Y chromosome. In: Ashburner M, Novitski E (eds). The genetics and biology of Drosophila. Vol 1b, Academic Press, London, pp 667–693
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gatti, M., Pimpinelli, S. Cytological and genetic analysis of the Y chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster . Chromosoma 88, 349–373 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00285858
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00285858