The Development of Eye Colors in Drosophila as Studied by Transplantation

Abstract

THE present report is an attempt to summarize briefly studies of eye color development in Drosophila melano- gaster, carried out, for the most part, jointly by Dr. Boris Ephrussi of the Institut de Biologie physico-chemique, Paris, and the writer. Detailed evidence for statements made here have been or will be published elsewhere (see references at the end of this paper). Those developmental reactions leading to the formation of specific types of eye colors in Drosophila presumably constitute a very small part of the general reticulum of developmental reactions. This particular small group, which of course in reality is probably very complicated, has several advantages for experimental study: (1) the genetic basis of eye color inheritance is relatively well understood; (2) eye colors have convenient characteristics which presumably can eventually be expressed in terms of definite chemical pigments (see Schultz, 1935) ; and (3) experience has shown that the reactions are approachable with a simple technique of transplantation (see Ephrussi and Beadle, 1936a, and Beadle and Ephrussi, 1936).

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