Analysis of male recombination in third chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster

Data on male recombination in twenty third-chromosomal lines of Drosophila melanogaster are presented. Frequencies of female and male recombination have been calculated in seven intervals along the third chromosome. The influence on male recombination (M.R.) exercised by different factors such as population origin (cellar, vineyard), the presence of heterozygous inversions and recessive lethal chromosomes, is analyzed. The results obtained lead to the main conclusion that M.R. is not affected by the presence of heterozygous inversions which reduce female recombination in the same lines. In the light of this effect, the possible mechanism operating on male recombination is discussed. Lethal …

Unmasking frequency-dependent selection in tri-cultures of Drosophila melanogaster.

Larval-to-adult viability was measured for three strains of Drosophila melanogaster: a wild strain and two eye colour mutant strains (cardinal and sepia) starting from seventy different genotypic compositions. Analyses of a sub-set of the data (not considering all genotypic frequencies) demonstrate frequency-dependence in the three strains. These results suggest that in this experiment, frequency-dependent selection may be masked by other selective forces, only being apparent when specific analyses are carried out.

Larval competition in Drosophila melanogaster: effects on development time

The effects on development time of larval competition that is interrupted at different times are analyzed in an experiment with constant larval density and varying proportions of two competing strains. Interruption of competition is carried out by means of the overfeeding technique, which allows for the study of individuals that, after several days under competition stress, either complete their development in crowded conditions or migrate to a vial with fresh food where the rest of their development takes place. Results of mean development time and within-vial variance of development time show that individuals under strong competition stress can arrest their development retaining the capab…

Genetic polymorphism and high detrimental load in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster from cellar and vineyard

Two Spanish natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster have been analysed with respect to genetic variability in third chromosome viability. The two populations, although from the same locality, belong to relatively different habitats: the inside of a cellar and a vineyard. The patterns of homozygote and heterozygote viability are similar in both populations. The homozygous detrimental loads estimated are very high and the values for the D:L (detrimental/lethal) ratio close to 2.5, which is higher than any previously found. The environmental variance of viability, average degrees of dominance of lethal genes and of viability polygenes and effective population sizes were estimated in eac…

Intra- and intergenotypic larval competition in Drosophila melanogaster : effect of larval density and biotic residues

Competitive selection in mono-, di- and tri-genotype cultures of Drosophila melanogaster

Viability and larva-to-adult development of three strains of Drosophila melanogaster (one wild strain and two eye mutant strains: cardinal and sepia) were studied under three different situations: A. Monocultures of wild, cardinal and sepia respectively. B. Dicultures with the combinations wild/cardinal, wild/sepia and cardinal/sepia respectively. Seven points of different genetical composition were chosen for each of the three systems. C. Tricultures with wild/cardinal/sepia. Seventy composition points were chosen. The points arranged in a three dimensional diagram with the axes wild, cardinal and sepia, make up an equilateral triangle hyperplane. An analysis of optimal density and intrins…

Larval competition in Drosophila melanogaster: frequency-dependence of viability

The application of the overfeeding technique (interruption of the competition during larval development) to the study of larval competition in two-strain cultures of Drosophila melanogaster demonstrates the following points: (1) viability is a function of competition time; (2) viability becomes more frequency-dependent as competition time increases; (3) the dynamics of the “inner” subpopulation (adults that have passed all their development in a crowded condition) and “outer” subpopulation (adults coming from larvae recovered by interruption of competition) vary with time as regards frequency-dependence; and (4) the wild type strain Oregon is the active agent in competition with the strain …

Stopped development in overcrowded cultures of Drosophila melanogaster.

Stable polymorphism for mutant eye colour geues in populations of Drosophila melanogaster in two different media

In previous work analyzing variability of eye colour alleles existing in natural populations of D. melanogaster, it was observed that the number of females heterozygous for some eye colour alleles was greater in a wine cellar population than in populations outside this cellar. In order to determine which mechanisms caused these eye colour alleles to be favored in the heterozygotes, the changes in the frequency of four eye colour alleles frequently seen in the cellar population (se77o, sf77m, cd77o and multichromosomal 77o) was studied in artificial populations. Two different culture media, one supplemented with 10% ethanol and the other without ethanol were used. It was found that each of t…