Wakimoto Barbara T, Lindsley Dan L, Herrera Cheryl
Department of Biology and Center for Developmental Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA.
Genetics. 2004 May;167(1):207-16. doi: 10.1534/genetics.167.1.207.
Drosophila melanogaster is a widely used model organism for genetic dissection of developmental processes. To exploit its full potential for studying the genetic basis of male fertility, we performed a large-scale screen for male-sterile (ms) mutations. From a collection of 12,326 strains carrying ethyl-methanesulfonate-treated, homozygous viable second or third chromosomes, 2216 ms lines were identified, constituting the largest collection of ms mutations described to date for any organism. Over 2000 lines were cytologically characterized and, of these, 81% failed during spermatogenesis while 19% manifested postspermatogenic processes. Of the phenotypic categories used to classify the mutants, the largest groups were those that showed visible defects in meiotic chromosome segregation or cytokinesis and those that failed in sperm individualization. We also identified 62 fertile or subfertile lines that showed high levels of chromosome loss due to abnormal mitotic or meiotic chromosome transmission in the male germ line or due to paternal chromosome loss in the early embryo. We argue that the majority of autosomal genes that function in male fertility in Drosophila are represented by one or more alleles in the ms collection. Given the conservation of molecular mechanisms underlying important cellular processes, analysis of these mutations should provide insight into the genetic networks that control male fertility in Drosophila and other organisms, including humans.
黑腹果蝇是一种广泛用于发育过程基因剖析的模式生物。为了充分发挥其在研究雄性生育力遗传基础方面的潜力，我们对雄性不育（ms）突变进行了大规模筛选。从12326个携带经甲磺酸乙酯处理的纯合存活第二或第三条染色体的菌株中，鉴定出2216个ms品系，这是迄今为止描述的任何生物体中最大的ms突变集合。对2000多个品系进行了细胞学特征分析，其中81%在精子发生过程中失败，19%表现出精子发生后的过程。在用于对突变体进行分类的表型类别中，最大的群体是那些在减数分裂染色体分离或胞质分裂中表现出明显缺陷的以及那些在精子个体化过程中失败的。我们还鉴定出62个可育或亚可育品系，这些品系由于雄性生殖系中异常的有丝分裂或减数分裂染色体传递或早期胚胎中父本染色体丢失而表现出高水平的染色体丢失。我们认为，果蝇中大多数在雄性生育力中起作用的常染色体基因在ms集合中由一个或多个等位基因代表。鉴于重要细胞过程背后分子机制的保守性，对这些突变的分析应该能够深入了解控制果蝇和包括人类在内的其他生物体中雄性生育力的遗传网络。
