Almost nothing is known about the identity of the genes causing reproductive isolation between species. As a first step towards molecular isolation of a ‘speciation gene’, I mapped and partly characterized a gene causing hybrid male sterility in Drosophila. This analysis shows that sterility of D. melanogaster males who carry the ‘dot’ fourth chromosome from D. simulans is due entirely to a very small region of the D. simulans chromosome (including only about 5 salivary gland bands or approximately 250 kb of DNA). Thus the hybrid sterility effect of the D. simulans fourth chromosome is almost surely due to a single gene of very large effect (here named hms, hybrid male sterile). Hms is zygotically acting, and the D. simulans allele of hms is completely recessive. Furthermore, complementation tests suggest that hms is not an allele of any known locus in D. melanogaster.

By designing 3′ ends of primers in PCR (polymerase chain reaction), a specific DNA fragment was selectively amplified in the presence of a 103-fold excess of highly homologous (sequence difference ca. 2 %) opponent DNA. This technique was applied in detecting paternal leakage of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in intraspecific crosses of Drosophila simulans and interspecific crosses of Drosophila simulans and Drosophila mauritiana. The mtDNA types of their progeny were analysed by selective amplification of the paternal mtDNA fragment possessing a polymorphic restriction site and detecting its cleaved fragments. Paternal mtDNA was detected in the progeny of 14 out of 16 crosses. The present result indicates small but frequent inheritance of sperm mtDNA in Drosophila, which is supportive to our previous finding.

The number and organization of amylase genes in Drosophila ananassae were investigated through classical genetic methods and in situ and filter hybridizations. At least four genes may be active in D. ananassae, organized as two independent pairs of closely linked copies on the 2L and 3L chromosomal arms. Several other species of the D. ananassae subgroup were studied and show the same chromosomal locations, suggesting an ancient duplication event. However, the number of Amy copies seems to be higher in the D. ananassae multigene family, and there is a striking intraspecific molecular differentiation.

Recessive lethal germline and specific locus somatic mutations were induced efficiently in the zebrafish by exposure of mature sperm to UV light. Mutagenesis of sperm yielded mosaic individuals: clones bearing novel mutations represented approximately 12–25% of the haploid germ cells and 25–50 % of the somatic tissue. Simple methods are described for the reliable identification and propagation of newly arising developmental mutations in zebrafish.

Recessive lethal mutations and mutations at the gol-1 locus were induced in the zebrafish by exposure of mature sperm to the alkylating agent ethyl nitrosourea (ENU). Embryonic lethal phenotypes were recognized among the parthenogenetic progeny of mutagenized animals or among the progeny of daughters of mutagenized animals. Novel specific locus mutations were identified by the failure of mutagenized chromosomes to complement pre-existing mutant alleles at the gol-1 locus. Each mutagenized individual harboured approximately 10 embryonic lethal mutations in its germ line and about 1 in 500 mutagenized animals harboured a new mutation at the gol-1 locus. Three lines of evidence indicate that the majority of mutations that were recovered following treatment of mature sperm with ENU were probably point mutations. First, the soma and germ lines of mutagenized animals were mosaic, as expected following simple alkylation of sperm DNA. Second, mutations induced by ENU at the gol-1 locus affected pigmentation but not viability, unlike the majority of mutations induced at this locus with y-irradiation. Third, the ratio of specific locus: recessive lethal mutations induced by ENU was approximately 50-fold lower than the ratio observed following mutagenesis with y-rays. Comparison of the incidence with which embryonic recessive lethal mutations were induced with the incidence with which specific locus mutations arose indicates that there are greater than 5000 genes essential to the development and viability of the zebrafish embryo.

Two cDNA clones coding for two forms of the mouse kidney androgen-regulated protein (KAP) distinguished by their electrophoretic mobilities on SDS gel electrophoresis have been isolated from libraries prepared from strains of mice having one (BALB/c) or two (OFl) forms of the KAP protein. The corresponding mRNAs have identical sizes, as well as identical sequences in their 5' non-translated regions. The size difference observed between the two proteins is due to two point mutations in the coding region of the KAP mRNA, leading to two amino-acid changes one of which resulted in the substitution of a glycine for a glutamic acid. As shown by in vitro transcription/translation experiments, these two amino-acid differences are responsible for the shift in the apparent molecular weight of the protein on SDS gels. Both forms of the protein are more abundant in males than in females.

In vitro translation of kidney RNAs isolated from six different strains and species of mice revealed the presence of other forms of the KAP protein, characterized by small variations of their molecular weights. Southern blot analysis data are consistent with the presence of only one kap gene in the mouse genome. A restriction fragment length polymorphism has been observed, which does not correlate with the protein polymorphism, indicating the presence of another allele in the OF1 mouse genome.

Using a mouse cDNA probe encoding for the major part of peripherin, a type III intermediate filament protein, we have assigned, by in situ hybridization, the mouse and human peripherin genes, Prph, to the E–F region of chromosome 15 and to the q12–q13 region of chromosome 12, respectively. These regions are known as homologous chromosomal segments containing other intermediate filament genes (keratins) and also other genes which could be co-ordinately regulated.

There are instances, the most typical being inversion polymorphism in Drosophila, where the genotype is not directly accessible in the adult organism, but can be observed in young life-stages. In these cases, if we want to estimate genotypic probabilities in adult populations, we must examine an offspring sample from adults. In this paper we derive the maximum likelihood estimators, and their errors, for genotypic probabilities in an adult population, according to a standard protocol in which collected parents of a random sample are individually crossed with individuals of a laboratory stock with known homozygous genotype, and a fixed number of their offspring is genetically examined in young life-stages. Arnold's probabilistic model for one locus with two alleles is developed for our estimates. An optimum design which generates a minimum variance is proposed, consisting of examining a moderate offspring number (3–4) per parent. Finally, we propose maximum likelihood estimates when several samples with different numbers of parents per sample, and/or examined progeny per parent are obtained.

It is known that under neutral mutation at a known mutation rate a sample of nucleotide sequences, within which there is assumed to be no recombination, allows estimation of the effective size of an isolated population. This paper investigates the case of very long sequences, where each pair of sequences allows a precise estimate of the divergence time of those two gene copies. The average divergence time of all pairs of copies estimates twice the effective population number and an estimate can also be derived from the number of segregating sites. One can alternatively estimate the genealogy of the copies. This paper shows how a maximum likelihood estimate of the effective population number can be derived from such a genealogical tree. The pairwise and the segregating sites estimates are shown to be much less efficient than this maximum likelihood estimate, and this is verified by computer simulation. The result implies that there is much to gain by explicitly taking the tree structure of these genealogies into account.