Dominant vs. Recessive Lethal Mutation

Abstract

After x-ray, the Oregon-R strain of Drosophila melanogaster exhibits both a lower recessive lethal mutation rate and a higher dominant lethal mutation rate than the Swedish-b strain. Sensitivity of the sperm chromosomes to induction of dominant lethal mutations increased with the age of the males, being about 1% when males were one day old and 60% when 16 days old. Neutron-produced ions used in the induction of recessive sex-linked mutations were only 0.75 as efficient as x-ray-produced ions.