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Molecular cloning of mei-41, a gene that influences both somatic and germline chromosome metabolism of Drosophila melanogaster

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Abstract

The mei-41 gene of Drosophila melanogaster plays an essential role in meiosis, in the maintenance of somatic chromosome stability, in postreplication repair and in DNA double-strand break repair. This gene has been cytogenetically localized to polytene chromosome bands 14C4-6 using available chromosomal aberrations. About 60 kb of DNA sequence has been isolated following a bidirectional chromosomal walk that extends over the cytogenetic interval 14C1-6. The breakpoints of chromosomal aberrations identified within that walk establish that the entire mei-41 gene has been cloned. Two independently derived mei-41 mutants have been shown to carry P insertions within a single 2.2 kb fragment of the walk. Since revertants of those mutants have lost the P element sequences, an essential region of the mei-41 gene is present in that fragment. A 10.5 kb genomic fragment that spans the P insertion sites has been found to restore methyl methanesulfonate resistance and female fertility of the mei-41 D3 mutants. The results demonstrate that all the sequences required for the proper expression of the mei-41 gene are present on this genomic fragment. This study provides the foundation for molecular analysis of a function that is essential for chromosome stability in both the germline and somatic cells.

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Author notes

  1. Satnam S. Banga

    Present address: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, 185 South Orange Avenue, 07103, Newark, NJ, USA

  2. Akihiko H. Yamamoto

    Present address: Duke University Medical Center, Box 3020 Durham, 27710, North Carolina, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California Davis, 95616, CA, USA

    Satnam S. Banga & James B. Boyd

  2. Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, P.O. Box 12233, 27709, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA

    Akihiko H. Yamamoto & James M. Mason

Authors
  1. Satnam S. Banga
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  2. Akihiko H. Yamamoto
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  3. James M. Mason
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  4. James B. Boyd
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Communicated by B.H. Judd

This Paper is dedicated to the memory of Professor James B. Boyd

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Banga, S.S., Yamamoto, A.H., Mason, J.M. et al. Molecular cloning of mei-41, a gene that influences both somatic and germline chromosome metabolism of Drosophila melanogaster . Molec. Gen. Genet. 246, 148–155 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00294677

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00294677

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