Enzyme polymorphisms: gene frequency distributions with mutation and selection for optimal activity.

Gene frequency distributions observed in large-scale surveys of species of Drosophila are shown to be incompatible with a genetic model involving neutral mutations and genetic drift alone. The data are, however, qualitatively similar to predictions based on an alternative model of natural selection for an optimal level of enzyme activity in addition to drift and mutation. The intensity of selection detected reduces the mean rate ofgene substitution to less than one-quarter that expected on the neutral-allele hypothesis.