Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 17, 2026

In Vivo Functional Study of Disease-associated Rare Human Variants Using Drosophila
Published on: August 20, 2019
Spontaneous Allozyme Mutations in DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER: Rate of Occurrence and Nature of the Mutants
R A Voelker1, H E Schaffer, T Mukai
1Department of Genetics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27607.
Abstract:
After additional generations of accumulation of allozyme mutants, the 1,000 lines of Mukai and Cockerham (1977) were again screened for the same five loci (alpha-Gpdh, cMdh, Adh, Hex-C and alpha-Amy), as well as for two new loci (Got-2 and Dip-A). Based on 3,111,598 allele generations: (1) the average mutation rate to new mobility variants with normal function was estimated to be 1.28 x 10(-6), and (2) the average mutation rate to null alleles was estimated to be 3.86 x 10(-6). A qualitative analysis of the nulls provided evidence that most of the mutants recovered are due to base substitutions. No apparent correlation was observed between structural gene size and mutation rate.
Related Concept Videos
Spontaneous and Induced Mutations
Mutations in Microorganisms
Mutation, Gene Flow, and Genetic Drift
Lethal Alleles
Lucien Cuénot discovered lethal alleles in 1905 while studying the inheritance of coat color in mice. The agouti gene is responsible for the color of the coat in mice. This gene codes for an agouti-signaling protein, which is responsible for melanin distribution in mammals. The wild-type allele gives rise to gray-brown coat color in mice, while the mutant allele gives rise to yellow coat color. In addition to coat color, the agouti gene is associated with the yellow...
Mutations
Chromosomal Alterations Are Large-Scale Mutations
While point mutations are changes in a single nucleotide in...
Mutations

