Repairs of X-ray induced sublethal damage in class B oocytes of Drosophila melanogaster

Repair of X-ray-induced sublethal damage (Elkind-type recovery) in class B oocytes of Drosophila melanogaster was studied. Newly hatched females of two different stocks were treated with either acute or fractionated exposures. For the fractionation experiments a constant time interval of one hour between the dose fractions was used. As genetic endpoints dominant lethality, chromosome aberrations (detachments) and non-disjunction were studied. The repair of X-ray-induced sublethal damage in class B oocytes is expressed as a reappearance on the initial shoulder in the fractionation curve. For dominant lethality it could be shown that less sublethal damage is repaired in oocytes of Berlin wild females than in those of attached-X females (on the average 76 per cent and 101 per cent respectively). Complete repair (about 100 per cent) was observed for detachments in occytes of attached-X females. Within the dose ranges used no radiation effects on non-disjunction could be observed. The results are interpreted to show that in class B oocytes (1) sublethal damage is due to chromosome breaks and/or lesions leading to breaks and (2) X-ray-induced dominant lethality is the consequence of chromosome damage (true dominant lethals).