Mutations in Drosophila after Chemical Treatment of Gonads In vitro

Abstract

THE attempts to produce experimental mutations by chemical agents have hitherto been successful only to a small extent. The small effect may be due on one hand to the relative high chemical stability of genes and on the other to technical difficulties. The latter consist first of all in the fact that the methods usually applied do not bring the chemicals into direct and immediate contact with the germ-cells. If we feed chemical substances, we do not know what alterations in quantity and quality of the agent occur in the digestive tract and on the way from there to the gonads. Injection of the chemicals into the bloodstream or in the lymph is a better method ; but here, too, we do not know how long the substance applied remains at work unchanged. Here a further difficulty consists in the fact that larger doses are often lethal for the treated animal.