Chemical selection of mutants that affect alcohol dehydrogenase in Drosophila. II. Use of 1-pentyne-3-ol.

We describe a procedure for the selection of alcohol dehyrogenase negative mutants in Drosophila. The method consists of exposing eggs and larvae to low concentrations of 1-pentyne-3-ol dissolved in the culture medium. Only those flies with greatly reduced levels of alcohol dehydrogenase activity survive. In addition, genotypically negative flies die if their mothers are alcohol dehydrogenase positive. Using this procedure and formaldehyde to generate mutants, we were able to detect seven alcohol dehydrogenase negative mutants out of 350,000 individuals subjected to selection. At least five of the mutants contain small deletions that include the alcohol dehydrogenase locus.