Phenogenetic studies on visual acuity in Drosophila melanogaster
1968; Elsevier BV; Volume: 14; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/0022-1910(68)90196-0
ISSN1879-1611
AutoresBarrie Burnet, Kevin Connolly, John S. Beck,
Tópico(s)Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research
ResumoThe dark-red eye colour of wild type Drosophila melanogaster is due to the presence of a brown and a red pigment in the primary and secondary pigment cells surrounding the ommatidia. The mutant gene vermilion blocks the synthesis of brown eye pigment, and the mutant gene brown blocks the synthesis of red eye pigment, so that white-eyed double mutants lack both pigments. Brown mutants which synthesize only the brown pigment shown no appreciable difference in visual acuity from the wild type, whereas there is a marked attenuation of visual acuity in double-mutant vermilion; brown flies. This is attributable to breakdown of optical separation of adjacent ommatidia due to absence of screening pigment, since bypassing the vermilion mutant block, by providing one of the missing intermediates in brown pigment synthesis, leads to almost complete restoration of visual acuity.
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