A simple procedure for study of ribosomal and transfer RNA of Drosophila melanogaster

✍ Scribed by John K. Tomkins; T. Billington

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1972
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 306 KB
• Volume: 50
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0003-2697
• DOI: 10.1016/0003-2697(72)90058-9

✦ Synopsis

DrosophiZa is increasingly being used as an experimental animal for molecular studies of gene expression in higher organisms. The ribosomal RNA and transfer RNA gene products of Drosophila have proved especially useful for such studies. They are major cellular products synthesized from genes which have been shown in Drosophila to be present in the genome in multiple copies (l-3). Drosophila mutants are available which are known (in the case of bobbed mutants and ribosomal RNA (4)), or conjectured (in the case of the Minute mutants and transfer RNA (2))) to be deletion mutants of these genes.

The present study describes a simple and rapid procedure for studying these RNA products-a method amenable to screening of single individuals of the developmental stages of Drosophila wild type or its mutants. The results obtained using this method are compared to those obtained using conventional methods of RNA analysis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS (I ) Experimental Organism

An Oregon R stock of Drosophila metanogaster was used. The stock was maintained by standard culture methods.

(2) Radioactive Labeling of Animals Cellulose powder (Whatman Column Chromedia CF2) was placed in a Wasserman tube (10 mm X 75 mm) in quantity sufficient only to cover the base. A drop of distilled water to 'wet the cellulose fibers and 10 PCi (10 ~1) of 3H-uridine (uridine-5-H3, 30 Ci/mmole, Radiochemical Centre, Amersham) was added. Five larvae placed on the cellulose burrowed and were observed to remain in the cellulose during prolonged labeling periods.