Differences in bristle-making abilities in scute and wild-type Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

Difference in bristle-making abilities in extreme scute and in wild-type Drosophila were investigated using flies mosaic for the two kinds of tissues. It was found that both wild-type and scute tissues were autonomous with respect to bristle differentiation. From the experimental evidence it was postulated that the differences in bristle-making abilities between the two genotypes might be due to differences in tissue competence rather than differences in pre-pattern or in level of bristle-making substances.