Abbreviations for FlyLab JS Mutations

Drosophila geneticists have a convention for labeling mutations. If the mutation is recessive, the abbreviation begins with a lowercase letter. If the mutation is dominant, the first letter of the abbreviation is capitalized. For example, the dominant mutant gene for sternopleural bristles is abbreviated as Sp and the recessive mutant gene for mahogany eyes is abbreviated as mah. The normal “wild type” version of the gene is denoted using the same abbreviation as the mutant version, but with a “+” superscript, for example, Sp⁺ and mah⁺. Sometimes, when the meaning is obvious, a “+” by itself is used as a shorthand for the wild-type gene, for example, the heterozygote genotypes +/Sp and +/mah. Different variations of the mutant gene (different alleles) are sometimes distinguished by appending superscript abbreviations to the main abbreviation.

FlyLab JS does not follow this protocol. Since the idea behind FlyLab JS is for users to discover the genetic characteristics of the mutations by experimentation, no clues as to dominance or recessiveness are provided using standard abbreviations. Instead, all the letters of the abbreviation are capitalized. In most cases, the letters used are the same as in the standard notation; however, in a few cases it was necessary to modify the choice of letters because capitalization resulted in two different mutations (a dominant and a recessive) with the same abbreviation. FlyLab JS always uses a “+” to denote wild type. A table of the genetic abbreviations used in FlyLab JS appears below.

Abbreviation	Mutant Phenotype	Description
AP	Apterous Wings	wings are absent
AR	Aristapedia Antennae	leg-like antennae
B	Bar Eyes	elongated oval eye shape
BL	Black Body	black body color
BW	Brown Eyes	brown eye color
C	Curved Wings	narrow curved wings
CV	Crossveinless Wings	cross veins missing from wings
CY	Curly Wings	wings curled upward
D	Dichaete Wings	wings angled out from body
DP	Dumpy Wings	short wide wings
E	Ebony Body	dark body color
EY	Eyeless Eyes	eyes are missing
F	Forked Bristles	short bristles split at ends
L	Lobe Eyes	long eyestalks, small eyes
M	Miniature Wings	wings are reduced in size
PR	Purple Eyes	purple eye color
RI	Radius Incompletus Wings	veins do not extend to end of wings
S	Sable Body	dark body color
SB	Stubble Bristles	short thick bristles
SD	Scalloped Wings	scalloped wing margins
SE	Sepia Eyes	dark brown eye color
SN	Singed Bristles	short gnarled bristles
SS	Spineless Bristles	short stunted bristles
ST	Star Eyes	rough irregular eye shape
SV	Shaven Bristles	bristles are absent
T	Tan Body	light tan body color
VG	Vestigial Wings	wings appear crumpled
W	White Eyes	white unpigmented eyes
Y	Yellow Body	yellow body color

These mutant phenotypes can be previewed by selecting them in the Design View of FlyLab JS.