The Lethality of the k11209 Line of Drosophila melanogaster
Presentation Type
Poster/Portfolio
Presenter Major(s)
Cell and Molecular Biology
Mentor Information
Bruce Ostrow, ostrowb@gvsu.edu
Department
Biology
Location
Henry Hall Atrium 38
Start Date
13-4-2011 2:00 PM
End Date
13-4-2011 3:00 PM
Abstract
The k11209 line of Drosophila melanogaster contains the transposon PlacW inserted in the second chromosome. It is homozygous lethal. If the transposon insertion is the cause of lethality, removing it should produce wild type flies. We removed PlacW from the k11209 genome by mating k11209 flies with a line containing the enzyme transposase. 18 lines of offspring lacking PlacW, called delP, were collected and back-crossed with the k11209 stock. We hypothesized this would produce wild type flies. However, this produced a lethal phenotype. This could be caused by an imprecise excision of the transposon from the delP lines or a second site lethal mutation. To distinguish between these possibilities, 9 delP lines were crossed with a line that had a deletion where PlacW had been. The offspring of this cross were viable, indicating that PlacW had excised precisely from the delP lines. We are currently attempting to remove the hypothesized lethal mutation.
The Lethality of the k11209 Line of Drosophila melanogaster
Henry Hall Atrium 38
The k11209 line of Drosophila melanogaster contains the transposon PlacW inserted in the second chromosome. It is homozygous lethal. If the transposon insertion is the cause of lethality, removing it should produce wild type flies. We removed PlacW from the k11209 genome by mating k11209 flies with a line containing the enzyme transposase. 18 lines of offspring lacking PlacW, called delP, were collected and back-crossed with the k11209 stock. We hypothesized this would produce wild type flies. However, this produced a lethal phenotype. This could be caused by an imprecise excision of the transposon from the delP lines or a second site lethal mutation. To distinguish between these possibilities, 9 delP lines were crossed with a line that had a deletion where PlacW had been. The offspring of this cross were viable, indicating that PlacW had excised precisely from the delP lines. We are currently attempting to remove the hypothesized lethal mutation.