Polymorphism in a Drosophila indirect flight muscle-specific tropomyosin isozyme does not affect flight ability

We describe polymorphism in a Drosophila indirect flight muscle-specific tropomyosin isozyme, named TnH-34. Three variants of this protein differ in their mobilities as determined by 1-D and 2-D SDS-PAGE. Meiotic mapping places the polymorphism close to, if not within, the structural gene encoding this tropomyosin isozyme. The most likely site of the mutations is within a single C-terminal exon. Flight-testing of different genotypes reveals that this variation in TnH-34 does not affect flight ability. These results suggest that some sequence variation may be tolerated in this section of the protein and correlate with the variability of this protein in different insect species.