Development, organization, and degeneration of the Drosophila sperm flagellum

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Abstract
The development and degeneration of sperm from Y-mutant, sterile Drosophila melanogaster were studied with emphasis on the differences among the various flagellar microtubules and the physical linkages among the components of the axial fibre complex. During the degenerative process the axoneme is disrupted by the breaking of connexions between adjacent peripheral groups (doublet + satellite) and between the secondary and centralfibres, and the microtubules are lost in a definite sequence: (1) inner portion of B-tubule, (2) outer portion of A-tubule, (3) inner portion of A-tubule, (4) outer portion of B-tubule, (5) central and accessory tubules. The observations support the conclusion that the various microtubules are compositionally different and, further, that the A- and B-tubules are, in turn, composed of differing outer and inner halves. Observations on the development and subsequent breaking apart of the various flagellar structures demonstrate the presence of the following physical linkages: (1) satellite-to-satellite, (2) A-tubule to adjacent B-tubule, (3) A-tubule to adjacent satellite (accessory tubule), (4) A-tubule to secondary fibres, (5) secondary fibres to central tubules, and (6) a connexion between the two central fibres.