0000000000306896
AUTHOR
Jasmine Wismar
Woc (without children) gene control of ecdysone biosynthesis in Drosophila melanogaster.
Abstract The first step in ecdysteroidogenesis, i.e. the 7,8-dehydrogenation of dietary cholesterol (C) to 7-dehydrocholesterol (7dC), is blocked in Drosophila melanogaster homozygous woc (without children) third instar larval ring glands (source of ecdysone). Unlike ring glands from wild-type D. melanogaster larvae, glands from woc mutants cannot convert radiolabelled C or 25-hydroxycholesterol (25C) to 7dC or 7-dehydro-25-hydroxycholesterol (7d25C) in vitro, nor to ecdysone (E). Yet, when these same glands are incubated with synthetic tracer 7d25C, the rate of metabolism of this polar Δ5,7-sterol into E is identical to that observed with glands from comparably staged wild-type larvae. The…
The Mutation without childrenrgl Causes Ecdysteroid Deficiency in Third-Instar Larvae of Drosophila melanogaster
Larvae homozygous for the recessive lethal allele without children(rgl) (woc(rgl)) fail to pupariate. Application of exogenous 20-hydroxyecdysone elicits puparium formation and pupation. Ecdysteroid titer measurements on mutant larvae show an endocrine deficiency in the brain-ring gland complex, which normally synthesizes ecdysone, resulting in a failure of the larvae to achieve a threshold whole body hormone titer necessary for molting. Ultrastructural investigation revealed extensive degeneration of the prothoracic cells of the ring gland in older larvae. The woc gene, located in polytene chromosomal region 97F, consists of 11 exons. A 6.8-kb transcript is expressed throughout development…
A temperature-sensitive brain tumor suppressor mutation of Drosophila melanogaster: Developmental studies and molecular localization of the gene
The recessive-lethal, temperature-sensitive (ts) mutation of the tumor suppressor gene lethal(3)malignant brain tumor (l(3)mbt) causes in a single step the malignant transformation of the adult optic neuroblasts and ganglion mother cells in the larval brain at the restrictive temperature of 29 degrees C. The transformed cells are differentiation-incompetent and grow autonomously in a lethal and invasive fashion in situ in the brain as well as after transplantation in vivo into wild-type adult hosts. The imaginal discs show epithelial overgrowth. At the permissive temperature of 22 degrees C development is completely normal. The ts-period of gene activity responsible for 100% brain tumor sup…