Mutagenic effect of radionuclides incorporated into DNA of drosphila melanogaster. Progress report, 1976--1977

Progress is reported on studies of the genetic effect of tritium incorporated into DNA of Drosophila melanogaster. Following a short pulse exposure to tritium-labeled uridine most of the radioactivity appeared in RNA; however, the turnover of radioactivity in tritium-labeled RNA was rapid whereas there was no exchange of tritium from the labeled DNA during spermatogenesis. Furthermore, most of the cytoplasm and most of the RNA in primary spermatocytes was lost during spermatogenesis and thus the mature sperm cell was left with only the DNA labeled. Preliminary experiments did not show a significant level of labeled RNA remaining in the mature sperm cell, whereas labeled DNA was verified after extraction and purification with phenol and enzyme digestion. Preliminary results of genetic tests on the progeny of normal females inseminated with tritium-labeled sperm cells are reported