Genetic damage induced by X-rays or neutrons in spermatozoa of Drosophila melanogaster; differential processing in the oocytes of females carrying the DNA-repair-deficient mutants mei-9sup(a) and mus-101sup(D1)

Radiation-induced premutational lesions on the chromosomes of irradiated mature spermatozoa of Drosophila are processed when the sperm nucleus enters the egg cytoplasm at fertilization. This processing depends on enzymatic repair systems, which are built up in the oocytes under the control of the maternal genotype. The present study is concerned with 2 repair-deficient mutants, mei-9sup(a) and mus-101sup(D1). Irradiated Basc males were crossed to homozygous mei-9sup(a) or mus-101sup(D1) females, or to repair-proficient control females. The frequencies of recovered sex-linked recessive lethal mutations and of II-III translocations were used to assess the effects of impaired maternal repair. Neutrons, as a densely ionizing radiation, and X-rays as a sparsely ionizing one, were used to induce the premutational lesions. (orig./AJ)