1. It has been shown that the lines dp 1, dp 2, vg 4 and vg 6 of Thoday & Boam (1961) each have two high sternopleural chaeta number genes or ‘effective factors’ between h and eyg in chromosome III. Their line dp 6 does not contain these two genes.

2. Lines derived from ancestors of dp 2 and vg 4 before the latter produced their accelerated responses have third chromosomes affecting chaeta number as if they had only one or other of these genes.

3. Of the three stocks from which all the lines derived, one, Inbred Oregon, lacks these genes. The second, vg/vg, has third chromosomes similar in effect to Oregon. The third, dp/dp, was heterogeneous, having a class of third chromosomes similar in effect to those of Oregon and a class similar to those having one high gene.

4. It is suggested that the history of the accelerated response in dp 1, dp 2 and vg 4 was as follows. Initially most of these third chromosomes were − − at the two loci, but a minority (derived from the dp/dp stock) were + − and − + (where + indicates the allele increasing chaeta number. Selection would reduce the frequency of − −, and hence increase the proportion of + −/− + heterozygotes and the probability of recombination to produce + +. Origin and multiplication of + + would account for the accelerated response.

Many of the yellow alleles found in Drosophila melanogaster result in a unique pattern of phenotypic expression. These patterns follow the morphologically distinct cell types of the cuticle, so that for one allele all the bristles of the head and thorax might be mutant, while most of the fly appears wild type. A comparison of many different y mutants demonstrates that the yellow phenotype is expressed independently in most if not all the different cell types which form the cuticle. Control of this expression appears to reside at the yellow locus itself.

A comparative study of two male recombination factors (31. 1 MRF and 23. 5 MRF) isolated from the same Southern Greek natural population, revealed specific differences in their activities. 23. 5 MRF induces female sterility due to atrophie ovaries at a wide range of temperatures while 31. 1 MRF does so only at high temperatures. The gross morphology of the atrophie ovaries was the same and unilaterally affected pairs were found in the F1 of crosses with both 23. 5 and 31. 1 MRF. Furthermore, 23. 5 MRF induces: (a) lower frequencies of abnormal anaphases I and II than 31. 1 MRF, (b) higher frequencies of ‘double crossovers’ resulting from deficiences or duplications, (c) large clusters of recombinants, suggesting premeiotic origin and (d) cases where one of the non-recombinant phenotypes was not produced. Such cases have never been observed with 31. 1 MRF. Moreover, the cytoplasm of the Cy L4/Pm strain that suppresses 31. 1 MRF does not affect the activities of 23. 5 MRF. Hypotheses to explain the different behaviour of the two factors are presented and discussed.

Individual yeast strains show characteristic differences in the amount of chloramphenicol required to inhibit the synthesis of the respiratory system. This varies from 0·05 mg./ml. to 4 mg./ml. A correlation between chloramphenicol and tetracycline resistance appears likely but no correlation between chloramphenicol and erythromycin resistance was observed. These relationships were emphasized by cross-checking spontaneous resistant mutants for each antibiotic. Nearly all mutants showing spontaneous resistance to chloramphenicol had a simultaneous increase in tetracycline resistance but no increase in erythromycin resistance. Spontaneous resistance to erythromycin on the other hand, had no striking effect on tolerance levels to chloramphenicol and tetracycline. Increases in erythromycin resistance were commonly accompanied by an increase in resistance to other macrolide antibiotics. There are similarities between these effects and those described for certain bacterial systems.

The activity and thermostability of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) from 247 strains of Drosophila melanogaster were studied by spectrophotometric assay. The strains, in which second chromosomes had been made homozygous in a standard genetic background, were derived from five natural populations from diverse geographical and ecological sites. Evidence is presented that the majority of variation in ADH activity is attributable to the presence, in all five populations, of two electromorphs of the enzyme. However, some variation does exist between strains carrying the same electromorph, to some extent associated with variation hi body weight. Two strains showed atypical ADH activities. Variation in ADH thermostability was almost wholly attributable to the presence of two electromorphs; only two strains had enzymes with thermostabilities atypical of their electromorph. In the four strains with abnormal ADH properties the locus (loci) responsible map in the region of the Adh locus. Therelatively low level of heterogeneity within electrophoretic classes at this locus is discussed in view of recent findings at other enzyme loci in Drosophila.

The restriction of phage λ.C by K(P1) cells is reduced when the cells are subjected to an EDTA cold-wash treatment which has been shown to remove surface-localized enzymes. We conclude that a surface-localized enzyme plays an essential role in host-controlled restriction.

Spermatozoa from inbred strains of mice were found to vary significantly for levels of cyclic AMP when extractions were performed in a reproducible manner. The F1 hybrid between high and low spermatozoal cAMP strains showed spermatozoal cAMP levels typical of the low strain. An analysis of spermatozoal cAMP in individual mice from the back-cross of the F1 to the high strain suggested that alleles at more than one locus determine strain differences in spermatozoal cAMP. The major histocompatibility locus of mice, H-2, which had been found to have an effect on liver cAMP levels did not seem to affect spermatozoal cAMP levels. t-Alleles, which appear to alter fertilization rates by effects on motility, had no apparent affects on spermatozoal cAMP.

The inheritance of three protein fractions of third instar larval lymph in Drosophila melanogaster as detected by starch gel electrophoresis is described. Each of the three is governed by a single autosomal gene. In two, the dominant allele determines presence, and the recessive absence of the respective fraction. The third protein fraction is governed by a single pair of co-dominant alleles.

Comparison of the starch-gel pattern to that obtained on cellulose acetate and on polyacrylamide gel fails to show definite sub-fractionation of those protein bands of which the inheritance has been studied.

Wild populations of the Norway rat, Rattus norvegicus, in Jutland have been known to be resistant to the anticoagulant rodenticide warfarin since 1962. The inheritance of the resistance was investigated in the F1, backcross and intercross. The results are consistent with the resistance being due to a major gene at the Rw locus. Resistant homozygotes, heterozygotes and susceptible homozygotes appeared to be distinguishable experimentally on the basis of differences in their susceptibility to vitamin K deficiency. The results are discussed in relation to previous studies of the inheritance of warfarin resistance in rats.

The chromosomal location of the mouse gene coding for vimentin, one of the intermediate filament subunits, was determined by in situ hybridization using specific H3-labelled DNA probes. There is only one copy of the vimentin gene and it is located on chromosome 2 region A2.

When killer and neutral strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae are crossed the resulting diploid clones possess a killer phenotype and when spored yield a complete range of tetrad ratios.

The combined results of analysing tetrads and vegetative cells of diploid clones derived from two different neutral × killer crosses (K1 × N1 and K2 × N1) demonstrate that the range of tetrad ratios can be accounted for by the occurrence of somatic segregation of killer (k) cytoplasmic determinants prior to sporulation. Such results support the genetic model for the inheritance of the killer character in yeast already proposed (Somers & Bevan, 1969).

During the course of these studies a correlation was found between the strengths of the killer phenotypes of diploid colonies and the proportions of killer spore cultures obtained after sporulation of their cells.

Data were collected on the distribution of ten families of transposable elements among fourteen X chromosomes isolated from a natural population of Drosophila melanogaster, by means of in situ hybridization to polytene chromosomes. It was found that, with the exception of roo, the copy number per chromosome followed a Poisson distribution. There was no evidence for linkage disequilibrium, either within or between families. Some pairs of families of elements were correlated with respect to the identity of the sites that were occupied in the sample, although there was no evidence for a correlation with respect to the sites at which elements attained relatively high frequencies. Elements appeared to be distributed randomly along the distal part of the X chromosome. There was, however, a strong tendency for elements to accumulate at the base of the chromosome. Element frequencies per chromosome band were generally low, except at the base of the chromosome where bands in subdivisions 19E and 20A sometimes had high frequencies of occupation. These results are discussed in the light of models of the population dynamics of transposable elements. It is concluded that they provide strong evidence for the operation of a force or forces opposing transpositional increase in copy number. The accumulation of elements at the base of the chromosome is consistent with the idea that unequal exchange between elements at non-homologous sites is such a force, although other possibilities cannot be excluded at present. The data suggest that the rate of transposition per element per generation is of the order of 10−4, for the elements included in this study.

The grasshopper Chorthippus parallelus has two quite distinct subspecies, which meet along the Pyrenees forming a hybrid zone. Using silver staining we show that on the French side Cp. parallelus has three nucleolar organizer regions, on the L2, L3 and X chromosomes, while on the Spanish side Cp. erythropus has only two NORs, on the L2 and L3. Laboratory F1 hybrid males show reciprocal differences in the expression of NORs. When a Cp. erythropus is female parent the male progeny show four active NORs in mitotic cells and two silver precipitates in meiotic cells, as expected. But when a Cp. parallelus female donates the X with a NOR, her male offspring have a variable disrupted nucleolar expression. Some NORs are not expressed and extra sites of cryptic rDNA are revealed. Meiosis is more disturbed in this latter F1 cross with higher levels of polyploidy, but both Fls show around 90% spermatid abnormality. Such variation in rDNA expression is also found in individuals collected from the hybrid zone, and the role of this disturbance in affecting fitness is discussed.

Improvements in cytotoxic technique allowed a determination to be made of the strain distribution and inheritance of Mph-1, the mouse peritoneal exudate cell alloantigen. Mph-lb, the allele in B10 lines, is inherited as a Mendelian co-dominant gene. In a 3-point backcross using the colour markers pink eye dilution (p) and chinchilla (cch) it was shown to map about 36 units from p in the order p-cch-Mph-l on chromosome 7. An alternative antigen, Mph-1.1, has been identified on strains F/St and I/StDa.

Brachyphalangy (Xt/bph) is an allele of extra-toes (Xt) in linkage group XIV of the mouse. The phenotypes of both heterozygote and homozygote are distinguishable from, but similar to, those of extra-toes.