Aldehyde oxidase cross-reacting material in the Aldoxn, cin, mal, and lxd mutants of Drosophila melanogaster.

Rocker immunoelectrophoresis was used to estimate aldehyde oxidase cross-reacting material (AO-CRM) in larval hemolymph and adult fly extracts in mutants with reduced AO enzymatic activity. Hemolymph of larvae homozygous for Aldoxn, which is a mutation of the presumed structural gene for AO, contains 30% of the wild-type CRM. The demonstration of AO-CRM in Aldoxn larval hemolymph is surprising since this genotype has been reported to lack CRM. By contrast, adult Aldoxn flies lack detectable CRM. The other AO-deficient mutants that were examined are cin, mal, and lxd; each has appreciable levels of CRM in both larval hemolymph and adult extract. Detection of CRM in these mutants helps to clarify conflicting reports in the literature.