Inherited biochemical variation in Drosophila melanogaster: noise or signal? I. Single-locus analysis.

A study was conducted using small effective population size as an experimental design to test selective neutrality of seven isozyme polymorphisms. Loci varied as to the degree to which the decay of heterozygosity over 21 generations was retarded. Selection for heterozygotes, overdominance, is implicated for at least four of seven loci. Of these ADH gave the largest heterozygote excess in the presence of inbreeding. An interaction between the small population size treatment and excess heterozygosity suggests that (1) the loci studied may be selectively neutral and linked to other loci which are under the influence of selection or (2) the selection coefficients for the loci studied are not independent of the background genotype. In either case four of the seven enzymes studied are signaling the operation of selection. The problem of distinguishing the effect of a single marker from that of a chromosome segment is emphasized. The identification of the genetic unit of selection is crucial to any interpretation of the meaning of enzyme polymorphisms.