Drosophila melanogaster General characteristics

Eye structure and development

Eye mutants

Eye genetics and mosaics Mosaic analysis

Drosophila characteristics Drosophila eye structure

Life cycle 10 days

Hardy and prolific

Four chromosome pairs

Polyteny in larval tissues

Special chromsomes
Each eye composed of 600-700 simple units (ommatidia)
P-elements
Ommatidia form a highly regular array
Genome = 1.7x108 bp

Drosophila eye structure Drosophila eye development

Core of 8 photoreceptors (R1-R8)

Surrounded by 4 cone cells (lens) then by pigment cells Adult Drosophila epidermis derived from imaginal discs

Each photoreceptor cell has a unique identity

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 Drosophila eye development Drosophila eye development
Eye
Antenna

A P

Morphogenetic furrow

The eye forms from the eye-antennal disc

Photoreceptors differentiate in a fixed order ending with R7
Differentiation is from posterior to anterior
Anterior to furrow cells divide synchronously
A furrow marks the boundary between In furrow division stops
differentiating and undifferentiated ommatidia Cells go through two further synchronous cell divisions

Mutations affect many different aspects

of eye development and function
The eye is a good model for:-

Organogenesis

Cell-cell interactions

Cell division

Cell death

sine oculis Bar

X-ray induced mitotic recombination

Mutations affecting the R7 photoreceptor
can be isolated by behavioural screens
for UV insensitivity

Wild type sevenless bride of sevenless

In Drosophila mitotic recombination can be induced by X-rays

UV insensitive mutants include two in which the R7 cell
completely fails to develop Heterozygous cells give rise to recombinant daughters
One daughter homozygous wild type one homozygous mutant

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 X-ray induced mitotic recombination X-ray induced mitotic recombination

In flies heterozygous mutant for both

a marker gene and a more distal
biologically interesting gene
induced mitotic recombination
produces marked daughter cells,
Single homozygous mutant daughter cell gives rise to which are homozygous mutant at
a clone of genetically distinct cells in the adult eye both loci

Clones can include

incomplete ommatidia
This gives rise to genetically mosiac individuals with marked
clones of mutant cells in a background of normal cells

Applications of mosaic analysis Applications of mosaic analysis

Inducing recombination after embryogenesis allows the

eye phenotype of lethal mutations to be analysed
Mosaic adults generated by hedgehog clone induction
during 1st larval instar are viable

Analysing the phenotype of mutant clones shows whether

the activity of the affected gene is required cell-autonmously
Hedgehog ommatidia are
in the centre of large clones
have an abnormal structure

Applications of mosaic analysis Applications of mosaic analysis

Chaoptic is a recessive mutation on chromosome 3
just proximal to boss, which affects rhabdomere morphology

A signal from R1/6/8 instructs the neighbouring cell to be the R7

X-irradiation used to induce
mosaicism in flies, which are
Genes involved in producing the signal need to be active in heterozygous for boss and chaoptic
R1/6/8 (non-cell autonomous)

Genes involved in transducing the signal need to be active in

R7 (cell autonomous)

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Applications of mosaic analysis Applications of mosaic analysis

R7 cells present in ommatidia

with R1-R6 chaoptic
In mosaic
ommatidia
if R8 chaoptic
R7 is
absent
R7 cells present in ommatidia
with R7 chaoptic

Applications of mosaic analysis Summary

Drosophila eye development is a good model

for analysis of cell-signalling and many other
aspects of biology
Boss is required non-cell autonmously in R8 but not R1/R6

Sevenless is required cell autonomously in R7

Mosaic analysis allows the adult phenotype of
A signal from R8 instructs the neighbouring cell to be R7 embryonic lethal mutations and the cell-autonomy
of gene action to be determined
Boss codes for a membrane bound ligand

Sevenless codes for a transmembrane receptor

References

Eye development genetics

http//www.sdbonline.org/fly/aimorph/eye.htm

Thomas BJ and Wassarman DA (1999)

A fly's eye view of biology
Trends in Genetics vol 15 pp184-190