Analysis of xanthine dehydrogenase mRNA levels in mutants affecting the expression of the rosy locus.

Xanthine dehydrogenase (XDH) mRNA levels were measured in a number of mutants and natural variants affecting XDH gene expression. Two variants, ry+4 and ry+10, contain cis-acting elements which map to a region flanking the 5' end of the XDH gene. Ry+4, which has 2-3 times more XDH protein than a wild type strain, has 3.2 times more XDH mRNA. Ry+10 has 50% of the wild type XDH level and 54% of the wild type XDH mRNA level. Three rosy mutants which map within the structural gene were also examined. Two of these had little if any XDH mRNA, but the third mutant had 1.3 times more XDH mRNA than wild type flies. Another mutant, ry2 , which contains no XDH protein and has a 9KB transposable element inserted into the XDH gene, has normal levels of XDH mRNA transcripts which are also the same size as those found in the wild type strain. Changes in XDH mRNA levels were measured during Drosophila development and found to parallel changes in the amount of XDH protein. In addition, there were no large changes in the size of XDH mRNA during development.