Possible correlations of polypeptides and Balbiani rings in the salivary glands of Drosophila auraria Peng.

Salivary glands of various stocks of Drosophila auraria and some of its close relatives were examined with a variety of electrophoretic techniques both from larval and prepupal stages, and after ecdysterone treatments, in an effort to detect possible translation products of the two Balbiani rings (BR1 and BR2) found in the salivary gland chromosomes of these species. Two polypeptides (P2 and P1), with molecular weights of 12,000 and 53,000, respectively, have been detected, the appearance of which coincides with the presence of BR2. The results do not allow the correlation of BR1 action with any specific polypeptide(s).