Alcohol dehydrogenases: A polymorphism in <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i>

Abstract

Abstract By means of a rapid microelectrophoretic technique suitable for single‐fly analysis, two types of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) isozyme patterns were found, each true breeding in homozygous stocks. A cross of these two types produces offspring with a third type of ADH pattern, containing hybrid ADH molecules in addition to the parental forms. Various strains were analyzed and found to contain flies of the three ADH types in various proportions indicating different gene frequencies. When octanol was used as a substrate instead of ethanol, an additional isozyme system was found, for which some strains are polymorphic also. The results obtained thus far are consistent with the assumption that ADH in Drosophila is a dimer.