Minutes comprise >50 phenotypically similar Drosophila mutations belie
ved to affect ribosomal protein genes. Common traits of the Minute phe
notype are short and thin bristles, slow development, and recessive le
thality. To further investigate the proposed Minute to ribosomal prote
in correspondence, loss-of-function Minute mutations were induced by P
-element mutagenesis. Here, we report a previously undescribed Minute
locus that maps to 32A on chromosome 2L; this Minute allele is named P
{lacW}M(2)32A' and the gene M(2)32A. Flies heterozygous for P{lacW}M(2
)32A' have a medium Minute phenotype. The gene interrupted by the P-el
ement insertion was cloned. Sequence analyses revealed that it encodes
the Drosophila homologue of eukaryotic ribosomal protein S13. It is a
single-copy gene and the level of RPS13 transcript is reduced to simi
lar to 50% in P{lacW}M(2)32A' heterozygotes. Both transcript level and
phenotype are restored to wild type by remobilizing the P element, de
monstrating that the mutation is caused by insertion of the P-element
construct. These results further strengthen the notion that Minutes en
code ribosomal proteins and demonstrate that P-element mutagenesis is
a fruitful approach to use in these studies.