Genomic consequences of background effects on scalloped mutant expressivity in the wing of Drosophila melanogaster.

ABSTRACT: Genetic background effects contribute to the phenotypic consequences of mutations and are pervasive across all domains of life that have been examined, yet little is known about how they modify genetic systems. In part this is due to the lack of tractable model systems that have been explicitly developed to study the genetic and evolutionary consequences of background effects. In this study we demonstrate that phenotypic expressivity of the scalloped(E3) (sd(E3)) mutation of Drosophila melanogaster is background dependent and is the result of at least one major modifier segregating between two standard lab wild-type strains. We provide evidence that at least one of the modifiers is linked to the vestigial region and demonstrate that the background effects modify the spatial distribution of

SUBMITTER: Dworkin I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2651043 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature