Segregation of centricY-autosome translocations inDrosophila melanogaster: II. Segregation determinants in females

Abstract

SummaryThis is a study of the chromosomal segregation patterns in females of 15 Experimental stocks ofDrosophila melanogaster, each carrying one element of a T (Y; 2) with a centric break-point. In each Experimental stock the relative frequency of all eight possible meiotic configurations of four relevant chromosomal elements was followed: an attached-Xchromosome, a multiply-inverted chromosome 2, a free arm of chromosome 2, and a half-translocation element. Although the 15 translocation elements were broken at different sites, there were no basic differences among the Experimental stocks in their segregation patterns. The three two-by-two configurations were the most common. Comparison of this pattern with that of the segregation pattern of stocks similar but for an inversion-free chromosome 2, showed that in the Experimental stocks exchange pairing did not play a significant role in the determination of the segregation pattern.The results of these experiments, together with the analysis of results from other published studies provide evidence against the model that had been forwarded by Grell. According to this model, chromosomes that did not participate in exchange pairing undergo another pairing cycle, in which total chromosome length is a factor in the determination of segregation.We support a modified version of Novitski's model of premetaphase chromocenter-like chromosome aggregation. Disjunction of non-exchange chromosomes is regulated by determinants located in the proximal heterochromatin of the sex chromosomes and the autosomes. However, the specificity, especially that of the autosomal determinants, is not high. Thus, if an autosome and a sex chromosome are available, their determinants may interact-to-disjoin by default. More frequently, the determinants of the left-arm autosomal element may interact-to-disjoin with those of the right-arm chromosomal element.