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Long-term selection for a quantitative character in large replicate populations of Drosophila melanogaster: 1. Response to selection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2009

B. H. Yoo
B. H. Yoo
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Husbandry, University of Sydney, Sydney, N.S.W., Australia
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The response to long-term selection for increased abdominal bristle number was studied in six replicate lines of Drosophila melanogaster derived from the sc Canberra outbred strain. Each line was continued for 86–89 generations with 50 pairs of parents selected at an intensity of 20%, and subsequently for 32–35 generations without selection. Response continued for at least 75 generations and average total response was in excess of 36 additive genetic standard deviations of the base population (σA) or 51 times the response in the first generation. The pattern of longterm response was diverse and unpredictable typically with one or more accelerated responses in later generations. At termination of the selection, most of the replicate lines were extremely unstable with high phenotypic variability, and lost much of their genetic gains rapidly upon relaxation of selection.

The variation in response among replicates rose in the early phase of selection to level off at approximately 7·6 around generation 25. As some lines plateaued, it increased further to a level higher than would be accommodated by most genetic models. The replicate variation was even higher after many generations of relaxed selection. The genetic diversity among replicates, as revealed in total response, the individuality of response patterns and variation of the sex-dimorphism ratio, suggests that abdominal bristle number is influenced potentially by a large number of genes, but a smaller subset of them was responsible for selection response in any one line.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Genetics Research , Volume 35 , Issue 1 , February 1980 , pp. 1 - 17
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

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