A new allele of engrailed, en NK14 , causes supernumerary spermathecae in Drosophila melanogaster

A spontaneous mutation, en , was a new allele of engrailed (en) in Drosophila melanogaster. Females of en have three spermathecae, instead of two in wild type, under a wide range of developmental temperatures, while the males show no abnormal phenotype. Spermathecae of the mutant female can accept i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inGenes & genetic systems Vol. 96; no. 6; p. 259
Main Authors Kato, Yasuko, Sawada, Akiko, Tonai, Kazuki, Tatsuno, Hisashi, Uenoyama, Takahisa, Itoh, Masanobu
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Japan 21.04.2022
Subjects
Alleles
Animals
Drosophila melanogaster - genetics
Female
Fertility - genetics
Male
Phenotype
Spermatozoa
sperm storage
NK14
spermatheca
genital imaginal disc
engrailed
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Summary:A spontaneous mutation, en , was a new allele of engrailed (en) in Drosophila melanogaster. Females of en have three spermathecae, instead of two in wild type, under a wide range of developmental temperatures, while the males show no abnormal phenotype. Spermathecae of the mutant female can accept inseminated sperms, albeit with a delay of at least an hour until full acceptance compared with wild type. The time course of decrease in the number of stored sperms was thoroughly similar between the mutant and wild type. en females produced fewer progeny than wild type females despite storing a larger number of sperms. The delay of sperm entry and lower fecundity suggested some functional defects in secretory products of the spermathecae. In addition, some spermathecae in the mutant were accompanied by a mass of brown pigments in the adipose tissue surrounding the capsule. Six contiguous amino acids, Ser340-Ala345, were replaced by one Thr in en . In another mutant, en , Ser325 was also shown to be substituted by a Cys. These amino acid changes were located within a serine-rich region, in which Ser325, Ser340 and Thr341 were suggested as targets of Protein Kinase C by an in silico analysis. The splicing pattern of en mRNA did not differ between en and wild type in embryo, larva, pupa or adult. Our results suggest that en plays an important role in determining the number of spermathecae as well as in sperm storage function in the Drosophila female.
ISSN:1880-5779