Developmental genetics of the Drosophila egg. I. Identification of 59 sex-linked cistrons with maternal effects on embryonic development.

Sex-linked mutations to recessive female sterility were induced, sorted for egg-laying, mapped within broad regions and grouped by complementation tests into cistrons. The mutations have also been partially characterized for their temperature sensitivity and pleiotropic effects. Altogether 59 cistrons have been identified, including five ellelic with previously known loci: cin, fs(1)N, mk, sn, and r. All of the genes make maternal contributions to developing embryos. In some instances mutant defects are recognized in the egg envelopes; in the remainder the defects are presumably in the egg cytoplasm. For mutations in twenty-two genes, including cin, mk, and r alleles, the lethality of the maternal effect is reversed and the embryo is "rescued" by the action of a wild-type, paternal allele. The mutant strains are potentially important material for the study of developing egg envelopes and for furthering the analysis of causation in embryogenesis and its origins in oogenesis.