Partial losses of sex chromosomes induced by X-rays in spermatozoa of Drosophila melanogaster.

The frequency of induced partial and complete losses of sex chromosomes from spermatozoa of Drosophila melanogaster was determined by mating irradiated males to females heterozygous for an attached-X Y chromosome and for a bb-deficient chromosome. The relative involvement of the X- and Y-chromosomes in partial losses was determined by (a) irradiating males with an X-chromosome centromere marked by a y+ translocated to the short right arm, and a Y-chromosome marked by w+, and (b) comparing the frequencies of fragments recovered from irradiated males with a normal, marked Y-chromosome and from irradiated males and a deleted bb Y-chromsome. 50-80% of the induced losses of sex-chromosomes in rod-X/Y males were partial losses, whereas only 25% of those induced in ring-X/Y males were partial losses. More than 70% of the recovered fragments were of Y-chromosome origin. Fragments recovered from attached-X-Y sons of irradiated males wer checked for the presence of the most proximal euchromatic X-chromosome genes. Most fragments of the rod-X were broken more proximally than bb. In the ring-X there was an excess of fragments broken in the proximal euchromatin. It was concluded that many fragments of the Y-chromosome was due to breaks induced by one-hit events, in both arms of the chromosome that were folded upon themselves. A similar mechanism had been postulated earlier for fragments of the ring-X chromosome.