Female Myoblasts Can Participate in the Formation of a Male-specific Muscle in Drosophila

概要

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In Drosophila melanogaster, a pair of dorsal longitudinal muscles in the fifth abdominal segment occurs in males but not in females. This male-specific muscle develops during metamorphosis. We examined how far the sexual identity of myoblast is involved in the formation of the male-specific muscle by transplantation of female myoblasts. A transformant strain which contains a 79B actin promoter fused to Escherichia coli β-galactosidase gene was used as a genetic reporter. A part of wing imaginal disc from the male or female donor transformant was transplanted into the abdomen of the male host (wild-type). After the hosts were allowed to develop till pharate adult or adult stage, the male-specific muscle of the host was examined whether it expressed the reporter gene or not. The expression of the reporter gene in the host's male-specific muscle was detected in both cases of donor's sex. The results indicate that myoblasts, independently of their sexual identity, can participate in the formation of the male-specific muscle. Therefore, the information of the sexual identity in the myoblasts itself is not the prerequisite for the formation of the male-specific muscle.
社団法人日本動物学会の論文
1994-04-15