Dominant cold paralytic mutations on the autosomes of Drosophila melanogaster

摘要

Twenty dominant cold paralytic mutants have been induced with EMS. Of these, 11 were found to be allelic mutations on the third chromosome at a position of 66.0 and are called Third Cold Paralytic, TCP-I to TCP-II. Nine mutants mapped to the second chromosome. These mutants showed a great variation in the cold paralytic phenotype and were not studied further. The TCP mutants were recessive lethals except two. The two exceptional mutations did not complement the lethality of the other mutants. TCP flies are reversibly paralysed at temperatures below 14°C to 16°C. When paralysed flies are stored above 13°C, they can regain some activity after some time; when stored below 13°C they cannot. When eggs or adult flies are stored below 13°C, they are killed in contrast to larvae, which will develop normally at low temperatures. The dramatic physiological effect of temperatures below 13°C on adult flies is followed by a shift in the Arrhenius activation energy of reduced coQ10-cytochrome c oxidore-ductase of mitochondria isolated from TCP flies.