Gene expression in Drosophila: post-translational modification of aldehyde oxidase and xanthine dehydrogenase

Maroon-like homozygotes are completely deficient for xanthine dehydrogenase (XDH) and aldehyde oxidase (AO), however, ma-l is not a structural locus for either enzyme. Quantitative immunoelectrophoresis of ma-l and wild type extracts suggests that the ma-l function must be post-translational. To determine whether the ma-l function involves some direct physical changes in XDH and/or AO the enzymes were characterized with respect to temperature sensitivity and behavior in gel sieving electrophoresis. Since the XDH and AO from complementary ma-l heterozygotes is more thermolabile and different in shape from wild type XDH and AO, we conclude that ma-l is involved in a post-translational modification of these enzymes.