Genetic and molecular features of Su(P) , a gene that interacts with ref(2)P in male fertility of Drosophila melanogaste
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O R I GI N A L P A P E R
A. Bichon á N. Boukhatem á P. Gay á P. Dru H. Terzian á A.-M. Petitjean á F. Lemeunier D. Contamine
Genetic and molecular features of Su(P), a gene that interacts with ref(2)P in male fertility of Drosophila melanogaster Received: 24 April 2000 / Accepted: 10 November 2000 / Published online: 21 February 2001 Ó Springer-Verlag 2001
Abstract The ref(2)P gene is involved in the control of sigma rhabdovirus multiplication in Drosophila melanogaster. ref(2)P activity is also necessary for male fertility. However, in one-third of laboratory strains tested, males that lacked ref(2)P activity were fertile. In all such strains studied, the male sterility phenotype was abolished due to the presence of a particular allele at the Su(P) locus, at 73B1±2. These spontaneous suppressor alleles were dominant. We were able to induce dominant suppressor alleles at the Su(P) locus by X-ray mutagenesis and hybrid dysgenesis, suggesting that null alleles of Su(P) confer the dominant suppressor phenotype. The Su(P) gene was cloned by P element tagging. The P element-tagged alleles identi®ed a Su(P) transcript as a 1.4-kb mRNA produced in the soma of both males and females, which is also abundant in ovaries. Key words Drosophila melanogaster á ref(2)P á Su(P) á Male fertility á Rhabdovirus sigma
Communicated by D. Gubb A. Bichon á P. Gay á P. Dru á H. Terzian á A.-M. Petitjean Centre de GeÂneÂtique MoleÂculaire, C.N.R.S., Gif-sur-Yvette, 91190, and Laboratoire GeÂnome et Informatique, Universite de Versailles-St-Quentin, Versailles 78035, France N. Boukhatem Faculte des Sciences, Universite Mohamed 1er, Oudja, 60000, Marocco F. Lemeunier Populations, GeÂneÂtique et Evolution, C.N.R.S., Gif-sur-Yvette, 91190, France D. Contamine (&) Laboratoire GeÂnome et Informatique, BaÃt. Buon, Universite de Versailles-St-Quentin, 45 Avenue des Etats Unis, 78035 Versailles, France E-mail: [email protected] Fax: +33-01-39254569
Introduction Natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster are infected with rhabdovirus sigma. This virus is not contagious and is transmitted via the gametes. The sigma virus is not cytopathogenic, but a deleterious eect on the host has been described, egg viability being lower for infected than for uninfected females (Fleuriet 1981, 1994). Transmission from females to progeny is very ef®cient (100% of the progeny being infected in many cases). Males also transmit the virus to some of their progeny, so the virus would be expected to invade almost the entire ¯y population even though infection leads to some slightly deleterious eects (L'Heritier 1970). However, this does not seem to occur in natural populations. For example, the frequency of infected ¯ies in France is usually 0.1±0.2 (Fleuriet 1986). The low frequency of infected ¯ies in natural populations may result from genetic control. Some alleles of at least ®ve genes (ref genes) can regulate the viral cycle (Gay 1978). Viral infection is presumably maintained at a low level by the restrictive alleles of ref genes. The best stu
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