Cell lineage of the imaginal discs in Drosophila gynandromorphs

Abstract

A collection of 379 drawings of D. simulans claret gynandromorphs, kindly supplied to the authors by Dr. A. H. Sturtevant, was used in order to analyze the cell lineage of the adult cuticular structures. The marker phenotypes forked bristles or yellow body color were used to trace the male tissue. The degree of mosaicism within the different imaginal discs was used to estimate the number of blastoderm nuclei whose descendants form the primitive imaginal discs on each side. The estimates are 23 for the compound‐eye‐antennal discs, 12 for the wing disc, several for the first and second leg discs and perhaps 1 for each of the prothoracic, third leg and abdominal discs. The frequency with which two parts are separated by sex, one male and one female, is assumed to vary inversely with the closeness of their embryonic descent. In this way were constructed the morphogenetic maps of the relative locations on one side of the embryo of the presumptive head, thoracic and abdominal adult structures. Locations of the presumptive parts within the morphogenetic maps are the same as the relative positions of the parts on the adult surface. Arguments are presented to place the morphogenetic map on the three‐dimensional surface of the egg. The data are consistent with the model that the morphogenetic map of the prospective adult structures occupies a medial band along both sides of the embryo surface. Poulson's ('50) ground plan of the egg also places the presumptive larval hypodermis in this location. This model is considered relative to the experimental evidence marking the early embryo stages.