Mutator genes—pacemakers of evolution

Abstract

In 1971, Hiraizumi reported that a proportion of the male .DELTA.rosophila melanogaster from a wild population in Texas showed low levels of recombination when heterozygous males were testcrossed to homozygous marked females. The amount of recombination was significant, but much lower than that typically observed in heterozygous females. Studies of these male recombination (MR) lines soon showed a variety of correlated genetic events, including chromosome breakage and mutator ativity. Studies of the mutator activity associated with male recombination lines have suggested that a variety of genetic events in natural populations may be causally related-perhaps even associated with the interaction of a microorganism and the host genome.