The partial characterization of alcohol dehydrogenase null alleles from natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster.

Twenty-three alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) putative null alleles extracted from four Tasmanian (Australia) populations of Drosophila melanogaster produce no ADH activity and are unable to form active heterodimers with either AdhF or AdhS. Twelve of these nulls were tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and did not produce any ADH cross-reacting material (CRM). The null homozygotes had similar, but slightly lower, mortalities on ethanol-supplemented media compared to an artificially induced null allele. Heterozygotes between the null alleles and standard AdhF and AdhS alleles had intermediate ADH activity and CRM levels.