scholarly journals The response to artificial selection from new mutations in Drosophila melanogaster.

Genetics ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 128 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Caballero ◽  
M A Toro ◽  
C López-Fanjul

Abstract Twenty generations of divergent selection for abdominal bristle number were carried out starting from a completely homozygous population of Drosophila melanogaster. All lines were selected with the same proportion (20%) but at two different numbers of selected parents of each sex (5 or 25). A significant response to selection was detected in eight lines (out of 40) and, in most cases, it could be wholly attributed to a single mutation of relatively large effect (0.5-2 phenotypic standard deviations). The ratio of new mutational variance to environmental variance was estimated to be (0.33 +/- 0.11) X 10(-3). The distribution of mutant effects was asymmetrical, both with respect to bristle number (85% of it was negative) and to fitness (most detected bristle mutations were lethal or semilethal). Moreover, this distribution was leptokurtic, due to the presence of major genes. Gene action on bristles ranged from additive to completely recessive, no epistatic interactions being found. In agreement with theory, larger responses in each direction were achieved by those lines selected at greater effective population sizes. Furthermore, the observed divergence between lines selected in opposite directions was proportional to their effective size, as predicted for mutations of large effect.

1993 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
María A. López ◽  
Carlos López-Fanjul

SummaryDivergent selection for abdominal bristle number was carried out for 47 generations, starting from a completely homozygous population of Drosophila melanogaster. All lines were selected with the same proportion (20%) but at two different numbers of selected parents of each sex (5 or 25). A significant response to selection was obtained in 25 lines (out of 40). In most cases, it could be wholly attributed to a single mutation of relatively large effect (> 0·3 phenotypic standard deviations). A total number of 30 mutations were detected. In agreement with theory, larger responses in each direction were achieved by those lines selected at greater effective population sizes. A large fraction of mutations were lethals (10/30). Thus, the observed divergence between lines of the same effective size selected in opposite directions was smaller than expected under neutrality. The ratio of new mutational variance to environmental variance was estimated to be(0·52±0·09)×10−3.


Genetics ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 132 (3) ◽  
pp. 771-781 ◽  
Author(s):  
E Santiago ◽  
J Albornoz ◽  
A Domínguez ◽  
M A Toro ◽  
C López-Fanjul

Abstract Starting from a completely homozygous population of Drosophila melanogaster, two groups of 100 inbred lines each were established and maintained for 46 generations, by a single brother-sister mating and two double first cousin matings, respectively. Sternopleural bristle number, wing length and wing width were simultaneously scored in all lines every 4-5 generations. The means of four lines in each group departed significantly from the overall mean and, in each case, this was attributed to a single mutation of relatively large effect on at least one trait (0.3-1.4 environmental standard deviations in absolute value). Further analyses revealed widespread pleiotropy, similar gene action of a given mutation for all traits affected, and predominant additive action. No apparent association was found between the magnitudes of mutational effects on the traits and fitness. However, all recessive mutations were deleterious. The distribution of mutant effects was asymmetrical (positive for bristles and negative for wing measurements). Moreover, these distributions had a high variance and may be leptokurtic, due to the presence of major genes. Estimates of the ratio of new mutational variance to environmental variance ranged within (0.7-3.4) x 10(-3), those for wing measurements being generally larger. In agreement with theory, the rate of between-line differentiation was independent of population size.


Genetics ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 136 (3) ◽  
pp. 937-951 ◽  
Author(s):  
T F Mackay ◽  
J D Fry ◽  
R F Lyman ◽  
S V Nuzhdin

Abstract Replicated divergent artificial selection for abdominal and sternopleural bristle number from a highly inbred strain of Drosophila melanogaster resulted in an average divergence after 125 generations of selection of 12.0 abdominal and 8.2 sternopleural bristles from the accumulation of new mutations affecting bristle number. Responses to selection were highly asymmetrical, with greater responses for low abdominal and high sternopleural bristle numbers. Estimates of VM, the mutational variance arising per generation, based on the infinitesimal model and averaged over the responses to the first 25 generations of selection, were 4.32 x 10(-3) VE for abdominal bristle number and 3.66 x 10(-3) VE for sternopleural bristle number, where VE is the environmental variance. Based on 10 generations of divergent selection within lines from generation 93, VM for abdominal bristle number was 6.75 x 10(-3) VE and for sternopleural bristle number was 5.31 x 10(-3) VE. However, estimates of VM using the entire 125 generations of response to selection were lower and generally did not fit the infinitesimal model largely because the observed decelerating responses were not compatible with the predicted increasing genetic variance over time. These decelerating responses, periods of response in the opposite direction to artificial selection, and rapid responses to reverse selection all suggest new mutations affecting bristle number on average have deleterious effects on fitness. Commonly observed periods of accelerated responses followed by long periods of stasis suggest a leptokurtic distribution of mutational effects for bristles.


Genetics ◽  
1973 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 513-530
Author(s):  
J P Hanrahan ◽  
E J Eisen ◽  
J E Legates

ABSTRACT The effects of population size and selection intensity on the mean response was examined after 14 generations of within full-sib family selection for postweaning gain in mice. Population sizes of 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 pair matings were each evaluated at selection intensities of 100% (control), 50% and 25% in a replicated experiment. Selection response per generation increased as selection intensity increased. Selection response and realized heritability tended to increase with increasing population size. Replicate variability in realized heritability was large at population sizes of 1, 2 and 4 pairs. Genetic drift was implicated as the primary factor causing the reduced response and lowered repeatability at the smaller population sizes. Lines with intended effective population sizes of 62 yielded larger selection responses per unit selection differential than lines with effective population sizes of 30 or less.


2000 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
AURORA GARCÍA-DORADO ◽  
JESUS FERNÁNDEZ ◽  
CARLOS LÓPEZ-FANJUL

Spontaneous mutations were allowed to accumulate over 209 generations in more than 100 lines, all of them independently derived from a completely homozygous population of Drosophila melanogaster and subsequently maintained under strong inbreeding (equivalent to full-sib mating). Traits scored were: abdominal (AB) and sternopleural (ST) bristle number, wing length (WL) and egg-to-adult viability (V). On two occasions – early (generations 93–122) and late (generations 169–209) – ANOVA estimates of the mutational variance and the mutational line × generation interaction variance were obtained. Mutational heritabilities of morphological traits ranged from 2 × 10−4 to 2 × 10−3 and the mutational coefficient of variation of viability was 0·01. For AB, WL and V, temporal uniformity of the mutational variance was observed. However, a fluctuation of the mutational heritability of ST was detected and could be ascribed to random genotype × environment interaction.


1968 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 721 ◽  
Author(s):  
BL Sheldon

The results of short runs of disruptive and high selection for scutellar bristles in wild-type Drosophila are explained in terms of the hypothesis that canalization at four bristles is due to regulation of the major gene in the developmental system (Rendel, Sheldon, and Finlay 1965). Selection response has probably been due to selection for modifier (minor) genes rather than for isoalleles of the major gene or weak regulator alleles. Some environmental effects on the character, short runs of selection for low bristle number or different bristle types, and effects of relaxing selection are also reported.


Genetics ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 120 (4) ◽  
pp. 1043-1051
Author(s):  
Z Smit-McBride ◽  
A Moya ◽  
F J Ayala

Abstract We have studied linkage disequilibrium in Drosophila melanogaster in two samples from a wild population and in four large laboratory populations derived from the wild samples. We have assayed four polymorphic enzyme loci, fairly closely linked in the third chromosome: Sod Est-6, Pgm, and Odh. The assay method used allows us to identify the allele associations separately in each of the two homologous chromosomes from each male sampled. We have detected significant linkage disequilibrium between two loci in 16.7% of the cases in the wild samples and in 27.8% of the cases in the experimental populations, considerably more than would be expected by chance alone. We have also found three-locus disequilibria in more instances than would be expected by chance. Some disequilibria present in the wild samples disappear in the experimental populations derived from them, but new ones appear over the generations. The effective population sizes required to generate the observed disequilibria by randomness range from 40 to more than 60,000 individuals in the natural population, depending on which locus pair is considered, and from 100 to more than 60,000 in the experimental populations. These population sizes are unrealistic; the fact that different locus-pairs yield disparate estimates within the same population argues against the likelihood that the disequilibria may have arisen as a consequence of population bottlenecks. Migration, or population mixing, cannot be excluded as the process generating the disequilibria in the wild samples, but can in the experimental populations. We conclude that linkage disequilibrium in these populations is most likely due to natural selection acting on the allozymes, or on loci very tightly linked to them.


Genetics ◽  
1982 ◽  
Vol 101 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-300
Author(s):  
Terumi Mukai ◽  
Sadao I Chigusa ◽  
Shin-Ichi Kusakabe

ABSTRACT Developmental homeostasis of relative viability was examined for homozygotes and heterozygotes using second chromosomes from two populations of Drosophila melanogaster. One was a chromosome population in which spontaneous mutations were allowed to accumulate since it was begun with a single near-normal second chromosome. The second was a natural population approximately at equilibrium. For the estimation of relative viability, the Cy method was employed (Wallace 1956), and environmental variance between simultaneously replicated cultures was used as the index of developmental homeostasis. A new method was used in the estimation of sampling variance for relative viability that was employed for the calculation of environmental variance (error variance between simultaneously replicated cultures — sampling variance). The following findings were obtained.: (1) The difference in environmental variance between homozygotes and heterozygotes could not be seen when a chromosome population with variation due to new mutations was tested. (2) When a chromosome group isolated from an approximate equilibrium population was examined, heterozygotes manifested a smaller environmental variance than the homozygotes if their relative viabilities were approximately the same. (3) There was a slight negative correlation between viability and environmental variance, although opposite results were found when the viabilities of individuals were high, especially when overdominance (coupling overdominance, Mukai 1969 a, b) was manifest. On the basis of these findings, it was concluded that developmental homeostasis was a product of natural selection, and its mechanism was discussed.


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