The Journal of Heredity 1983:74(3):171-174
© 1983 The American Genetic Association 74:171-174
research-article |
Variation in response to CO2 in Drosophila melanogaster and D. simulans
Biology Department, the University of Texas at Arlington Arlington, TX 76019
Abstract
A type of slow-recovery from high temperature CO2 exposure is a wild-type characteristic of Drosophila simulans. Species hybrids of wild-type D. melanogaster and D. simulans have intermediate recovery times. The response to nitrogen exposure at both high and low temperatures is the same for the two species suggesting that the observed CO2 response is more than just anoxia. Since there is no female bias in hybrids, and since injections of D. slmulans exlract into D. molanogaster produced no increase in CO2 sensitivity in the recipients, we conclude that the prolonged recovery time results from genomic differences between D. simulans and D. melanogaster, and is not due to a sigma-like infectious agent.