Molecular cloning of alpha-amylase genes from Drosophila melanogaster. III. An inversion at the Amy locus in an amylase-null strain.

Overlapping clones of the structural gene region for alpha-amylase, Amy, were isolated from a lambda EMBL4 library containing genomic DNA fragments from an amylase-null strain of Drosophila melanogaster. Southern blot analysis and restriction endonuclease mapping of the cloned region indicate that it contains an Amy gene duplication within an inverted repeat sequence as is characteristic of the genomic arrangement for this species. Spacing between the cloned gene copies is similar to that commonly found in other strains. Evidence is presented for the presence of an inversion 4 to 9 kb in length within the cloned Amy region of the null strain. We postulate a causal relationship between the presence of the inversion and the failure of individuals from the null strain to express amylase. A model is proposed that suggests the inversion may have arisen through intramolecular (or sister-strand) recombination mediated by homologous pairing of the inverted repeat sequences at the Amy locus.