Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 4 March 2005:
Vol. 307. no. 5714, pp. 1461 - 1463
DOI: 10.1126/science.1107182
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

A Functional Dosage Compensation Complex Required for Male Killing in Drosophila

Zoe Veneti,1 Joanna K. Bentley,1 Takao Koana,2 Henk R. Braig,3 Gregory D. D. Hurst1*

Bacteria that selectively kill males ("male-killers") were first characterized more than 50 years ago in Drosophila and have proved to be common in insects. However, the mechanism by which sex specificity of virulence is achieved has remained unknown. We tested the ability of Spiroplasma poulsonii to kill Drosophila melanogaster males carrying mutations in genes that encode the dosage compensation complex. The bacterium failed to kill males lacking any of the five protein components of the complex.

1 Biology Department, University College London, Wolfson House, 4 Stephenson Way, London, NW1 2HE, UK.
2 Low-Dose Radiation Research Center, Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, Iwado-kita 2-11-1, Komae, Tokyo 201-8511. Japan.
3 School of Biological Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2UW, UK.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed: E-mail: g.hurst{at}ucl.ac.uk

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Pervasive and Largely Lineage-Specific Adaptive Protein Evolution in the Dosage Compensation Complex of Drosophila melanogaster.
M. T. Levine, A. K. Holloway, U. Arshad, and D. J. Begun (2007)
Genetics 177, 1959-1962
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Species-specific positive selection of the male-specific lethal complex that participates in dosage compensation in Drosophila.
M. A. Rodriguez, D. Vermaak, J. J. Bayes, and H. S. Malik (2007)
PNAS 104, 15412-15417
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Unexpected Mechanism of Symbiont-Induced Reversal of Insect Sex: Feminizing Wolbachia Continuously Acts on the Butterfly Eurema hecabe during Larval Development.
S. Narita, D. Kageyama, M. Nomura, and T. Fukatsu (2007)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 73, 4332-4341
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Host-symbiont interactions of the primary endosymbiont of human head and body lice.
M. A. Perotti, J. M. Allen, D. L. Reed, and H. R. Braig (2007)
FASEB J 21, 1058-1066
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Rickettsia as obligate and mycetomic bacteria.
M. A. Perotti, H. K. Clarke, B. D. Turner, and H. R. Braig (2006)
FASEB J 20, 2372-2374
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Heritable Endosymbionts of Drosophila.
M. Mateos, S. J. Castrezana, B. J. Nankivell, A. M. Estes, T. A. Markow, and N. A. Moran (2006)
Genetics 174, 363-376
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)