Molecular genetical analysis of Drosophila ether sensitive mutants

1. For a genetical approach to the molecular mechanisms of general anesthesia, we isolated 14 Drosophila transposon tagging mutants which showed altered sensitivities to diethylether anesthesia. Two mutated genes were identified and analyzed for their structures and functions. 2. One sensitive mutant, para(hd838), has a transposon, P-element, insertion in the 2nd intron of para locus (14C) which encodes an alpha subunit of a sodium channel. 3. Another sensitive mutant, eth(as)311. has a P-element in the 5'-untranslated region of Drosophila calreticulin gene (86BC). Calreticulin is known as a multifunctional calcium-binding protein in the endoplasmic reticulum of non-muscle cells. 4. We obtained their revertants to show that the P-element insertion in each gene induced the hypersensitivity to ether anesthesia. We describe here that the sodium channel and calreticulin might be targets for the ether anesthesia.