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The P-Factor: A Transposable Element in Drosophila

  • Chapter
Mutation, Cancer, and Malformation

Part of the book series: Environmental Science Research ((ESRH,volume 31))

Summary

A number of seemingly unrelated phenomena, including high mutability, chromosome breakage, temperature-sensitive sterility, and male crossing-over, appear in certain inter-strain crosses in Drosophila melanogaster. The collection of symptoms has been called “hybrid dysgenesis”. The explanation is a 2907 bp transposable element, designated P. The P element is highly mobile in an appropriate maternally-derived cellular environment, designated M, but hardly at all otherwise. The various manifestations of hybrid dysgenesis are thought to be consequences of P factor transposition.

A complete P factor has 31-base reverse repeat at each end and two internal protein-coding sequences. Incomplete P factors having the repeated ends but lacking the coding regions are transposable, but onyl when at least one complete P factor is present in the nucleus. A specific, extremely highly mutable state of the singed bristle locus is thought to be due to the insertion of one or more incomplete P factors. Mutability at this locus has been employed as an indicator of the presence of a complete P factor in experiments showing DNA transformation by injecting P-containing DNA into embryos.

Three features of the P system distinguish it from other transposable elements. One is the extremely high rate of transposition. Second is complete genetic control over transposition by choice of the appropriate maternal contribution. Third, the phenomenon is confined almost entirely to germ cells. These properties make the system particularly useful for a variety of genetic experiments, for example those using P factors as vehicles for cloning and DNA transformation.

The role of transposable elements as contributors to the spontaneous mutation rate is yet to be determined.

Paper Number 2667 from the Laboratory of Genetics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Genetics Laboratory, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    James F. Crow

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  1. James F. Crow
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Harbor, Michigan, USA

    Ernest H. Y. Chu

  2. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennesse, USA

    Walderico M. Generoso

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© 1984 Plenum Press, New York

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Crow, J.F. (1984). The P-Factor: A Transposable Element in Drosophila. In: Chu, E.H.Y., Generoso, W.M. (eds) Mutation, Cancer, and Malformation. Environmental Science Research, vol 31. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2399-0_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2399-0_13

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