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Introduction to the genetics of the

Black Body mutant and the Ebony Body mutant

Drosophila Melanogaster, commonly known as fruit fly, is one of the

primary model organisms of genetic analyses of heredity, first explored by

Morgan lab in 1910. This organism is still widely used because it is ideal to grow

in labs due to its short generation time and large production of offspring. The

D.Melanogaster wild type exhibits a yellow-brown body, has brick-red eyes and

transvers black rings across the abdomen. The species has four chromosomes

mapped out. The first chromosome is the 𝑋 gender determination chromosome

in which females are homogametic and males heterogametic. The second and

third characterize themselves in that the left arm chromatid is shorter than the

right arm. These chromosomes are nominated as 2L, 2R, 3L and 3R. The fourth

chromosome is, relatively, a very short one having only two coding genes

(NCBI, 2017). One of the most common mutants within D.Melanogaster

includes the black and ebony mutants, both of which are phenotypic mutations

in body color. The expression of the black or ebony allele may, in turn, cause

cellular regulation problems in the organism.

The black body mutant (𝑏), located in chromosome 2L has a sequence

location of 13,821,248-13,823,979 base pairs; its recombination map is 2-49,

and its cytogenetic map is 34D1-34D1 (FlyBase, 2017). This mutant gene

exhibits a recessive inheritance meaning that this protein-coding and autosomal

gene will only be expressed in the organism’s phenotype only if it is found to be

genotypically homozygous recessive. The black mutant genotype is 𝑏/𝑏, while

the possible wild types are 𝑏/+ or +/+. (Another symbol for the wild type allele
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is brown, 𝐵). The gene is typically present in a 3:1 ratio, favoring the dominant

and wild type allele.

Similarly, the ebony body mutant displays a mode of recessive

inheritance to the wild type. The ebony gene (𝑒) is located in chromosome 3R

and has a sequence location of 21,229,839-21,237,177 base pairs; its

recombination map is 3-71, and its cytogenetic map is 93C7-93D1 (FlyBase,

2017). This is also a protein-coding and autosomal gene responsible for the

build up of brown/tanned color pigments. When it is defective it allows black

pigments to accumulate all over the body (“Mutant Fruit Flies: Exploratorium

Exhibit”, n.d.). The only ebony mutant genotype and phenotype expression is

𝑒/𝑒, while the possible wild type genotypes are 𝑒/+ or +/+. (Pool and Aquadro,

2007). A correlation between the ebony mutant e/e and behavioral effects of

fruit flies seem to derive from the ebony mutant interfering with the biochemical

processes in the fruit fly’s cells. The ebony gene shows an altered transcription

pattern compared to that of the wild type (Caizzi et al., 1987). The Fly Base

Consortium has reported in 2017 that the Ebony gene, “Links beta-alanine to

biogenic amines like dopamine or histamine.” The consortium concluded that, “It

controls the amount of free biogenic amine, e.g. of dopamine in cuticle

formation and of histamine in visual signal transduction of the eye. It is also

involved in behavioral rhythmicity.” Nonetheless, the ratios of the dark body

mutants described, may vary with crossing-over events. Dark body mutant has

been commonly linked to other genes on chromosome II (e.g. vestigial wings

(𝑣𝑔) and cinnabar eyes (𝑐𝑛)). These linkages will be further explored in this

experiment.
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Works Cited

Caizzi, Ruggero, Ferruccio Ritossa, Rolf-Peter Ryseck, Sabine Richter, and

Bernd Hovemann. 1987. "Characterization Of The Ebony Locus In Drosophila

Melanogaster". MGG Molecular & General Genetics 206 (1): 66-70.

doi:10.1007/bf00326537.

"Genome Data Viewer". 2017. Ncbi.Nlm.Nih.Gov.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genome/gdv/browser/?context=genome&acc=GC

F_000001215.4.

Gramates LS, Marygold SJ, dos Santos G, Urbano J-M, Antonazzo G,

Matthews BB, Rey AJ, Tabone CJ, Crosby MA, Emmert DB, Falls K, Goodman

JL, Hu Y, Ponting L, Schroeder AJ, Strelets VB, Thurmond J, Zhou P and the

FlyBase Consortium. (2017)

"Mutant Fruit Flies: Exploratorium Exhibit. Mutations In Each Fly's Genetic Code

Have Altered Their Colors And Shapes". 2017. Exploratorium.Edu.

http://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/pdfs/insects/mutant.pdf.

POOL, JOHN E., and CHARLES F. AQUADRO. 2007. "The Genetic Basis Of

Adaptive Pigmentation Variation In Drosophila Melanogaster". Molecular

Ecology 16 (14): 2844-2851. doi:10.1111/j.1365-294x.2007.03324.x.