The effects of two mutations connected with chromatin functions on female germ-line cells of Drosophila.

We have studied the developmental effects of two dominant suppressor mutations of position-effect variegation mutations on female germ-line cells. Su-var(2)1(01), which has been shown to affect chromatin structure though altering histone deacetylation, and Su-var(3)3(03) are recessive female steriles and zygotic lethals in the presence of butyrate or an additional Y chromosome. We have analysed mosaic females with mutant germ-line and normal soma and concluded that intact functions of the Su-var(2)1 and the Su-var(3)3 genes are required for development of both the soma and the germ-line and that as indirect evidence suggest, their maternally provided products are needed for normal embryonic development. It is suggested that there is possibly a common control of chromatin structure and gene expression in the soma, female germ-line and embryonic cells of Drosophila.