Golgi and genetic mosaic analyses of visual system mutants in Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

We have used a Golgi staining procedure in Drosophila melanogaster to examine the structure of individual neurons in the visual systems of the Canton-S wild-type strain, of flies expressing mutations at the Glued, rough, glass, and uneven loci, all of which affect the organization of the visual system, and of genetic mosaics involving the Glued and uneven loci. We have found that the structure of the neurons studied in the wild type is quite similar to that reported for other diptera and that the mutants studied evidence a variety of abnormalities in neuronal morphology, each mutant being characterized by a different spectrum of aberrations. The genetic mosaic analysis of the Glued and uneven loci showed that the structure of individual neurons in the optic lobes is profoundly influenced by the genotype of the cells projecting to that region from the compound eye but that the final form attained by a neuron is not solely controlled by that factor.