Development and genetic analysis of bithorax phenocopies in Drosophila

Abstract

PHENOCOPIES are developmental abnormalities which closely resemble known mutants, and can be induced experimentally1. Phenocopies of a given mutant can be induced by various physicochemical agents, which share a unique and restricted effective period in development. In some instances it has been shown that the period of sensitivity to the agent coincides in turn with the effective period of the mutant itself2,4. This is of special relevance because it places the phenomenon of the phenocopy in the same causal frame as that of gene action. Some of the morphogenetic mutants of Drosophila have been studied in clonal analysis and shown to act cell autonomously5,6. We have investigated whether their phenocopies also result from events taking place at the cellular level.Peer reviewe