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Morphological variability and concealed deleterious effects inDrosophila melanogaster populations

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Summary

The effects of brother-sister mating on viability of offspring were analyzed in relation to morphological variation of the individuals constituting the sib pairs.Drosophila melanogaster populations can be subdivided into 2 distinct groups of individuals that differ in the level of morphological variation and in their response to inbreeding. Genomes free of major deleterious factors appear to be favored by natural selection. A reduction in effective population size due to an environmental shift with consequent selection is thus not expected to be followed by inbreeding depression.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General and Applied Biology, University of Lyon 1, F-69622, Villeurbanne, France

    C. Biémont & F. Bouclier

Authors
  1. C. Biémont
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  2. F. Bouclier
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Additional information

We thank R.C. Lewontin in whose laboratory the American populations were studied, M.G. Kidwell for providing some isofemale lines and J. David, R. Grantham and especially R.C. Lewontin for their comments on the manuscript. Support was provided by a NATO grant for C.B. and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (associated laboratory No. 243).

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Biémont, C., Bouclier, F. Morphological variability and concealed deleterious effects inDrosophila melanogaster populations. Experientia 39, 313–315 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01955323

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