The effect of caffeine on repair systems in oocytes of Drosophila melanogaster.

Irradiated males were mated to females that had received treatment with caffeine or honey (by feeding), and the frequencies of sex-chromosome losses and chromosome rearrangements induced in mature spermatozoa of the males were compared. Caffeine treatment led to an enhancement of the frequencies of sex-chromosome loss and a decrease in those of rearrangements. These findings can be interpreted on the assumption that caffeine inhibits repair and misrepair processes that are active in the oocytes. Caffeine treatment administered to one of the female stocks used in these studies was without any effect, presumably because of the absence of a caffeine-sensitive repair mechanism in the oocytes.