The genetics of a small autosomal region of Drosophila melanogaster, including the structural gene for alcohol dehydrogenase. V. Characterization of X-ray-induced Adh null mutations.

Of 31 X-ray-induced and 2 spontaneous Adh null mutations selected for resistance to pentenol (Aaron 1979), 21 are deletions, including Adh and one or more neighboring loci. By contrast, none of 13 EMS-induced Adhn mutations are deletions. On average, the size of these X-ray-induced deletions is shorter than that of 12 formaldehyde-induced Adhn deletions (O'Donnell, Mandell, Krauss and Sofer 1977). Both the X-ray- and formaldehyde-induced deletions show a nonrandom distribution of break points in region 34D to 35D of chromosome arm 2L. Some of the deletions display particular genetic properties associated with one of their end points.