Black eyes of the moth of Heliothis virescens were controlled by a single, autosomal recessive gene, b. Black-eyed moths were discovered among progeny in an outcross made to test for allelism of two known genes ye, conferring yellow eyes, and yes, conferring yellow eyes and scales. Complementation to the wildtype gray eye color was observed in 686 (99.1%) of the progeny; however, six progeny of one mating exhibited the new phenotype, black eyes. Two black-eyed females mated to a wildtype sibling produced descendents displaying golden eyes, striped eye, purple eyes, white eyes, and "cat's" eyes. No black-eyed progeny were observed in the F2 generation of lines segregating for y, ye, and yes, confirming that black eye was not a combination of those other genes. These newly discovered genes could be useful in basic studies of developmental genetics or in applied transgenesis.
Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.