Imaginal disc development in a non-pupariating lethal mutant inDrosophila melanogaster

Imaginal disc development in the non-pupariating lethall(1)npr-1, a mutant that maps to an ecdysone early puff site, is studied in situ, in vitro and in transplanted discs. Disc development is slightly abnormal from the middle of the third instar with severe abnormalities appearing after the rise in 20-hydroxyecdysone that triggers metamorphosis. The mutant discs only partly evaginate and do not undergo any of the detailed morphological changes characteristic of metamorphosis. Treatment of the mutant dises in vitro with colcemid and trypsin facilitates evagination but the appendages remain morphologically abnormal. A number of differentiative processes occur in mutant discs in situ and in discs transplanted into wild type hosts in spite of the absence of normal morphogenesis. Implications of the observations for normal disc development are discussed. Possible modes of action of thel(1)npr-1 gene are also discussed in light of the observation that the mutant gene maps to a locus which is thought to have a regulatory function in development.