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Article: Absent protein causes chromosomal breakup.(research on causes of mutations)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- October 21, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Perhaps even more than fans of Godzilla films, fruit fly biologists love mutants. For decades, these investigators have studied strange and unusual examples of the fast-breeding insect, both natural mutants and those induced by chemicals or X rays.
In 1968, researchers captured an intriguing mutant near a winery outside Rome. As they studied this mutant strain, scientists found that the insects had problems making the cells that would become sperm or eggs. Sometimes too much genetic material would end up in sperm cells, for example; other times sperm were a bit light on DNA.
Now, a group led by Terry L. Orr-Weaver of the Whitehead Institute for ...