Intervening sequences in ribosomal RNA genes and bobbed phenotype in Drosophila hydei

Abstract

The ‘bobbed’ (bb) mutation in Drosophila is represented phenotypically by shortened and abnormally thin scutellar bristles and by delayed development. There is a direct correlation between bristle size and ribosomal RNA (rRNA) synthesis¹, and the bb mutation was at first explained as a deficiency of rRNA genes (rDNA)². However, the bb phenotype can occur in Drosophila melanogaster¹ and Drosophila hydei³ with high rDNA content, while phenotypically wild-type flies are known with few rRNA genes, suggesting that what matters is not the number of rRNA genes but their transcriptional activity. In D. melanogaster, it has recently emerged that rRNA genes interrupted by an intervening sequence are not transcribed⁴. We now report that in D. hydei, the length of the scutellar bristle is directly proportional to the number of rRNA genes without this intervening sequence.