Interchromosomal effects of heterochromatic deletions on recombination in Drosophila melanogaster

It is now known that partial deletions of the satellite sequences in X-chromosome heterochromatin result in a significant decrease in intrachromosomal recombination in the proximal region of the X chromosome of D. melanogaster (YAMAMOTO and MIKLOS 1978). It is important to ask then if the loss or gain of heterochromatin on the X also alters recombination in other chromosomes of the genome (interchromosomal effects). I have looked for such alterations by measuring recombination in chromosome 3. The results clearly indicate that the partial loss of X-chromosome heterochromatin not only decreases crossing over in the proximal region of the X chromosome itself, but also increases the frequency in chromosome 3, especially in the euchromatic regions around the centromere. Furthermore, the greater the deficiency of X heterochromatin, the higher is recombination in chromosome 3. This finding not only provides further evidence in support of the hypothesis that heterochromatin, in this case mainly composed of satellite DNA, regulates the recombination system, but it demonstrates that when the satellite content of one chromosome of the D. melanogaster genome is altered, there is an alteration in the crossover characteristics of other chromosomes in the same complement. If the amount of satellite DNA in a genome is being continuously altered, then one can predict that the recombination system is also being continually perturbed. Thus, the changing gene combinations produced indirectly by increases or decreases of heterochromatin are among the components available to organisms to break up or form new gene combinations upon which selection can act.