Isolation and chromosomal localization of genomic DNA sequences coding for cytoplasmic superoxide dismutase from Drosophila melanogaster.

A synthetic oligodeoxynucleotide 18-mer probe derived from the amino acid sequence of Drosophila melanogaster cytoplasmic superoxide dismutase (cSOD) was used to screen a D. melanogaster genomic library. One of the positive clones maps by in situ hybridization to position 68A8-9 on the left arm of polytene chromosome 3, the region to which cSOD mutants have previously been mapped genetically. Partial sequence analysis verifies the presence of cSOD-coding sequences in this clone and indicates that the intron structure of the Drosophila cSOD gene differs significantly from its human counterpart.