Mitotic and polytene chromosomes: comparisons between Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila simulans

This review deals with the differences between Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila simulans in their mitotic and polytene chromosomes. The description of the mitotic karyotypes of D. melanogaster and D. simulans is mainly based on the methods that allow to differentiate their euchromatin from the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Genetica 2004-03, Vol.120 (1-3), p.137-150
Main Authors: Aulard, Sylvie, Monti, Laurence, Chaminade, Nicole, Lemeunier, Françoise
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Chromosome Inversion
Chromosomes
Chromosomes - ultrastructure
DNA Transposable Elements
DNA, Satellite - genetics
Drosophila - genetics
Drosophila melanogaster
Drosophila melanogaster - genetics
Drosophila simulans
Euchromatin
Female
Gene Deletion
Genes, Insect
Genetics
Heterochromatin - genetics
Heterozygote
Insects
Karyotypes
Karyotyping
Male
Mitosis
Models, Genetic
Natural populations
Polymorphism, Genetic
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This review deals with the differences between Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila simulans in their mitotic and polytene chromosomes. The description of the mitotic karyotypes of D. melanogaster and D. simulans is mainly based on the methods that allow to differentiate their euchromatin from their heterochromatin: banding patterns, distribution of satellite DNAs and location of the rDNA. The polytene chromosomes karyotypes are known for many years to differ by a major paracentric inversion on chromosome 3 and minor few differences. The main difference take place in their chromosomal polymorphism: D. melanogaster is highly polymorphic while D. simulans has long been known to be a monomorphic species. In fact, despite worldwide studies of natural populations for both species, only 14 unique inversions have been described for D. simulans while more than 500 inversions are already known for D. melanogaster.
ISSN:0016-6707
1573-6857
DOI:10.1023/b:gene.0000017637.10230.c4