Search results for " Gene Components"

A Mutation With Major Effects on Drosophila melanogaster Sex Pheromones

2005

0016-6731 (Print) Comparative Study Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Sex pheromones are intraspecific chemical signals that are crucial for mate attraction and discrimination. In Drosophila melanogaster, the predominant hydrocarbons on the cuticle of mature female and male flies are radically different and tend to stimulate or inhibit male courtship, respectively. This sexual difference depends largely upon the number of double bonds (one in males and two in females) added by desaturase enzymes. A mutation was caused by a PGal4 transposon inserted in the desat1 gene that codes for the desaturase crucial for setting these double bonds. Homozygous mutant flies produced 70-90%…