Prud'homme N, Gans M, Masson M, Terzian C, Bucheton A
Centre de Génétique Moléculaire, C.N.R.S., Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
Genetics. 1995 Feb;139(2):697-711. doi: 10.1093/genetics/139.2.697.
Gypsy is an endogenous retrovirus of Drosophila melanogaster. It is stable and does not transpose with detectable frequencies in most Drosophila strains. However, we have characterized unstable strains, known as MG, in which it transposes at high frequency. These stocks contain more copies of gypsy than usual stocks. Transposition results in mutations in several genes such as ovo and cut. They are stable and are due to gypsy insertions. Integrations into the ovoD1 female sterile-dominant mutation result in a null allele of the gene and occurrence of fertile females. This phenomenon, known as the ovoD1 reversion assay, can be used to quantitate gypsy activity. We have shown that the properties of MG strains result from mutation of a host gene that we called flamenco (flam). It has a strict maternal effect on gypsy mobilization: transposition occurs at high frequency only in the germ line of the progeny of females homozygous for mutations of the gene. It is located at position 65.9 (20A1-3) on the X chromosome. The mutant allele present in MG strains is essentially recessive. Flamenco seems to control the infective properties of gypsy.
吉普赛病毒是黑腹果蝇的一种内源性逆转录病毒。它很稳定，在大多数果蝇品系中不会以可检测到的频率发生转座。然而，我们已经鉴定出了不稳定品系，即MG品系，在该品系中它会高频转座。这些品系中的吉普赛病毒拷贝数比普通品系更多。转座会导致几个基因发生突变，如ovo和cut基因。它们是稳定的，且是由吉普赛病毒插入导致的。插入到ovoD1雌性不育显性突变中会导致该基因产生无效等位基因，并出现可育雌性。这种现象被称为ovoD1回复试验，可用于定量吉普赛病毒的活性。我们已经表明，MG品系的特性是由一个我们称为弗拉门戈（flam）的宿主基因突变引起的。它对吉普赛病毒的移动具有严格的母体效应：转座仅在该基因突变纯合雌性后代的生殖系中高频发生。它位于X染色体上的65.9（20A1-3）位置。MG品系中存在的突变等位基因基本上是隐性的。弗拉门戈似乎控制着吉普赛病毒的感染特性。
