The production of partially sterile mutants in Glossina austeni

Abstract

An attempt is described to produce chromosome translocations in Glossina austeni which, it is hoped, might ultimately be used for tsetse fly control. The method consisted of selecting among the progeny of irradiated males for cases of inherited partial sterility. Thirty-four per cent of the testable sons of males which received doses of 5–7 krads showed these properties. In two cases the inheritance was patrilineal which suggests that the Y chromosome was involved. In most of the other cases a segregation among both male and female progeny of the partially sterile and normal types occurred and in these cases it appears that autosomes only were involved. Among males in these stocks the segregation ratio was close to 1:1, but in females there was a deficit of the partially sterile type. This may be partly associated with the fact that a large proportion of totally sterile and in-viable females were produced by these stocks. The proportion of zygotes which died at the embryonic, larval and pupal stages as a result of the action of the partial sterility factors varied between factors of different mutational origin. In view of the pattern of inheritance of these factors and their high frequency of induction it is argued that in all probability they are translocations in the heterozygous state.