Chromosomal walking and jumping to isolate DNA from the Ace and rosy loci and the bithorax complex in Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

A chromosomal walk is described that covers 315 X 10(3) base-pairs of DNA from the 87DE region of the third chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster. The walk includes the DNA for the rosy and Ace loci, which code for xanthine dehydrogenase and acetylcholinesterase, respectively. Several dispersed repetitive elements were encountered in the walk. In every case, their positions in the chromosome differed in different strains, and so they are all presumed to be transposable elements. Several rearrangement breakpoints have been localized within the walk, including the break for In(3R) Cbx+R1 (87E1, 2-89E1, 2). One breakpoint fusion fragment of this inversion was isolated to jump from 87E into the cluster of homeotic genes of the bithorax complex, at 89E1-4.