Wright T R
University of Virginia, Department of Biology, Charlottesville 22903-2477, USA.
J Hered. 1996 May-Jun;87(3):175-90. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.jhered.a022983.
Mutations in a majority of the 18 loci of the Dopa decarboxylase (Ddc) gene cluster effect similar morphological defects of the cuticle and/or catecholamine-related abnormalities. Mutations in 14 loci affect cuticle formation, cuticle sclerotization, or cuticle melanization, with mutations in 11 of these same loci (including Ddc and amd) producing melanotic psueudotumors, symptomatic, perhaps, of abnormal catecholamine metabolism. Mutations in seven of the genes perturb catecholamine pool levels during prepupal and pupal development, all of which also form melanotic pseudotumors, suggesting several of these genes may encode proteins involved in catecholamine metabolism. Thus, the Ddc gene cluster represents in higher eukaryotes an unusual example of a large cluster of functionally related genes involved in a common physiological process.
多巴脱羧酶（Ddc）基因簇的18个位点中的大多数发生突变，会导致类似的表皮形态缺陷和/或儿茶酚胺相关异常。14个位点的突变会影响表皮形成、表皮硬化或表皮黑化，其中11个相同位点（包括Ddc和amd）的突变会产生黑色素假瘤，这可能是儿茶酚胺代谢异常的症状。7个基因的突变会在预蛹期和蛹期发育过程中扰乱儿茶酚胺池水平，所有这些突变也会形成黑色素假瘤，这表明这些基因中的几个可能编码参与儿茶酚胺代谢的蛋白质。因此，Ddc基因簇在高等真核生物中代表了一大群参与共同生理过程的功能相关基因的不寻常例子。
