A novel transvection phenomenon affecting the white gene of Drosophila melanogaster

The zeste mutation of Drosophila melanogaster suppresses the expression of white genes in the eye. This suppression is normally dependent on there being two copies of w+ located close to each other in the genome--they may either be in cis (as in a tandem duplication of w+) or in trans, i.e. on homologous chromosomes. Duplicated w+ genes carried by a giant transposing element, TE146(Z), are suppressed by z whether they are in direct (tandem) or inverted order. The tandem form of the TE is very sensitive to a rearrangement on the homologous chromosome--many rearrangements with breakpoints "opposite" the TE's insertion site prevent the interaction between the white genes on a z background. These aberrations act as dominant suppressors of zeste that are specific to the tandemly duplicated form of TE146(Z). The inverted form of the TE146(Z) presumably pairs as a hairpin loop; this is more stable than the tandem form by the criterion that its zeste phenotype is unaffected by any of the aberrations. This effect of rearrangements has been used as the basis for a screen, gamma-ray induced aberrations with at least one breakpoint opposite the TE site were recovered by their suppression of the zeste phenotype.