The following heterozygotes show small amounts of adult escapers, depending on culture conditions: spin^P/spin^Δ31, spin^P/spin^Δ86, spin^P/spin^Δ29 and spin^P/spin^Δ2b. Adult escapers exhibit progressive locomotor defects, such as difficulty in righting after a fall. These defects worsen during the days after emergence and result in death within 5-12 days. The escapers appear morphologically normal except for a subtle, completely penetrant extra wing vein phenotype.

Electroretinogram (ERG) recordings from the eyes of <4-day-old spin^P/spin^Δ86 adult escapers show a depolarization in response to light similar to controls but lack on/off transients and exhibit slowed repolarization.

The brains of spin^P/spin^Δ86 escapers show severe neuronal loss characterized by a significant decrease in the number of neuronal cell bodies and severe vacuolization in cortical brain layers. The layered architecture of the visual lobe is disrupted and the medulla does not undergo its normal rotation with respect to the antero-posterior axis. The eyes of 4-day-old spin^P/spin^Δ86 flies show a loss of retinal structural integrity associated with the accumulation of PAS-positive carbohydrate granules. This defect is not observed in 1-day-old spin^P/spin^Δ86 flies.