Molecular cloning of suppressor of sable, a Drosophila melanogaster transposon-mediated suppressor

A hybrid dysgenesis-induced allele [su(s)w20] associated with a P-element insertion was used to clone sequences from the su(s) region of Drosophila melanogaster by means of the transposon-tagging technique. Cloned sequences were used to probe restriction enzyme-digested DNAs from 22 other su(s) mutations. None of three X-ray-induced or six ethyl methanesulfonate-induced su(s) mutations possessed detectable variation. Seven spontaneous, four hybrid dysgenesis-induced, and two DNA transformation-induced mutations were associated with insertions within 2.0 kilobases (kb) of the su(s)w20 P-element insertion site. When the region of DNA that included the mutational insertions was used to probe poly(A)+ RNAs, a 5-kb message was detected in wild-type RNA that was present in greatly reduced amounts in two su(s) mutations. By using strand-specific probes, the direction of transcription of the 5-kb message was determined. The mutational insertions lie in DNA sequences near the 5' end of the 5-kb message. Three of the seven spontaneous su(s) mutations are associated with gypsy insertions, but they are not suppressible by su(Hw).