Mechanisms for dominance: Adh heterodimer formation in heterozygotes between ENU or x-ray induced null alleles and normal alleles in drosophila melanogaster

Journal Article · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1992 · Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/em.2850200404· OSTI ID:6527918

Jiang, J C; Lee, W R; Chang, S H; Silverman, H ^[1]

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1. Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge (United States)

To study mechanisms for dominance of phenotype, eight ENU- and four x-ray-induced mutations at the alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh) locus were analyzed for partial dominance in their interaction with normal alleles. All ENU and one of the x-ray mutations were single base substitutions; the other three x-ray mutations were 9-21 base deletions. All but one of the 12 mutant alleles were selected for this study because they produced detectable mutant polypeptides, but seven of the 11 producing a peptide could not form dimers with the normal peptide and the enzyme activity of heterozygotes was about half that of normal homozygotes. Four mutations formed dimers with a decreased catalytic efficiency and two of these were near the limit of detectability; these two also inhibited the formation of normal homodimers. The mutant alleles therefore show multiple mechanisms leading to partial enzyme expression in heterozygotes and a wide range of dominance ranging from almost complete recessive to nearly dominant. All amino acid changes in mutant peptides that form dimers are located between amino acids 182 and 194, so this region is not critical for dimerization. It may, however, be an important surface domain for catalyzation. 34 refs., 8 figs., 2 tabs.

• OSTI ID: 6527918
• Journal Information: Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis; (United States), Journal Name: Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis; (United States) Vol. 20:4; ISSN 0893-6692; ISSN EMMUEG
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
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AMINO ACID SEQUENCE
ANIMALS
ARTHROPODS
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MOLECULAR STRUCTURE
MUTAGENESIS
MUTATIONS
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