Chromosome 4, the smallest autosome ( approximately 5 Mb in length) in Drosophila melanogaster contains two major regions. The centromeric domain ( approximately 4 Mb) is heterochromatic and consists primarily of short, satellite repeats. The remaining approximately 1.2 Mb, which constitutes the banded region (101E-102F) on salivary gland polytene chromosomes and contains the identified genes, ...

Drosophila melanogaster polytene chromosomes display specific banding pattern; the underlying genetic organization of this pattern has remained elusive for many years. In the present paper, we analyze 32 cytology-mapped polytene chromosome interbands. We estimated molecular locations of these interbands, described their molecular and genetic organization and demonstrate that polytene chromosome...

Drosophila melanogaster telomeric DNA is known to comprise two domains: the terminal tract of retrotransposons (HeT-A, TART and TAHRE) and telomere-associated sequences (TAS). Chromosome tips are capped by a protein complex, which is assembled on the chromosome ends independently of the underlying terminal DNA sequences. To investigate the properties of these domains in salivary gland polytene ...

The alpha, beta and gamma polypeptides that make up Drosophila Larval Serum Protein-1 seem to be coded for by genes that have evolved by duplication of a common ancestral gene. We have found variants of all three polypeptides, and these are variants of the coding sequences. The alpha-chain variant mapped to 39.5 on the X chromosome and to the polytene interval 11A7-11B9. The beta-chain variant ...

Drosophila mediopunctata belongs to the tripunctata group, and is one of the commonest Drosophila species collected in some places in Brazil, especially in the winter. A standard map of the polytene chromosomes is presented. The breakpoints of the naturally occurring chromosomal rearrangements are marked on the map. The distribution of breaking points through the chromosomes of D. mediopunctata...

A simple technique for preparing mitotic metaphases from a larval ganglion of Drosophila is described. Parallel examination of polytene and metaphase chromosome groups shows that inversion polymorphism in chromosome 3 of D. recticilia from East Maui (Hawaii) manifests a one-to-one correlation with a metaphase karyotype polymorphism due to the presence of an extra heterochromatic portion. These ...

Ninety-four microsatellites from enriched genomic libraries of Hessian fly (Hf, Mayetiola destructor [Say]) were localized to 170 cognate clones in an Hf bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) library. These microsatellite-positive BAC clones were physically mapped to polytene chromosomes by fluorescent in situ hybridization. The mapped microsatellite loci can be used to study the genetic divers...

We describe the mapping of 979 randomly selected large yeast artificial chromosome (YAC) clones of Drosophila DNA by in situ hybridization to polytene chromosomes. Eight hundred and fifty-five of the clones are euchromatic and have primary hybridization sites in the banded portions of the polytene chromosomes, whereas 124 are heterochromatic and label the chromocenter. The average euchromatic c...

The genetic basis of hybrid sterility has been investigated in backcross segmental hybrids between two sibling species, Drosophila buzzatii and D. serido. Asynapsis of homologous bands in hybrid polytene chromosomes has been used to identify the D. serido chromosome segments introgressed into the D. buzzatti genome. All the investigated chromosomes contain male sterility factors. For autosomes,...

A novel alternative to microcloning for the production of region specific chromosomal DNA is described. In this method, 'microamplification', single bands are dissected from polytene chromosomes and digested with Sau3A. Oligonucleotide adaptors are ligated to these fragments to provide convenient priming sites for polymerase chain reaction amplification. In this way, as much as 1 microgram of D...