Molecular variation in the Odh gene in Chilean natural populations of Drosophila subobscura

A 793-nucleotide fragment from the D. subobscura Odh gene was sequenced in 46 lethal chromosomal lines from two South American colonizing populations (18 from Santiago de Chile and 28 from Puerto Montt). Only eight different haplotypes were found and, with just one exception, all had previously been detected in North American samples. The exception probably corresponds to a genetic exchange between two American haplotypes. Our results confirm the loss in genetic variability due to the recent founder event, and the high resemblance between the two colonized hemispheres. One haplotype is entirely associated with the O5 inversion, the same association found in North America. Two different hapl…