Transplantation of Gonads from Lethal to Normal Larvae in Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

Conclusion

The distinct but limited development of the transplanted ovaries shows that this organ still has developmental potencies at a time when other organs, such as the imaginai discs, degenerate. This means that the lethal genetic constitution prevents further development in different organs at different periods of time. Whether the further development of the ovaries is based on autonomous potencies or whether it is a result of a favorable influence coming from the genetically normal host cannot be determined from these experiments.

The striking difference found between the developmental potencies of transplanted ovaries and testes seems to be correlated with the fact that prior to transplantation, the testes during the third larval instar already show such deleterious changes brought about by the lethal conditions as to prevent their increase in size, whereas the ovaries seem not yet affected.