Null allele frequencies at allozyme loci in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster.

We have sampled a London population of Drosophila melanogaster for null alleles at twenty-five allozyme loci. The same loci and biochemical techniques were used as in our previous survey of a North Carolina population (Voelker et al. 1980). This second survey is completely concordant with the first. No nulls were detected among the five X-linked loci. The mean frequency of nulls at the twenty autosomal loci was 0.0023. Although there is significant interlocus heterogeneity, the two populations appear to have the same frequencies at each locus. This suggests that null alleles at these allozyme loci are in mutation-selection balance, and we estimate the average heterozygous effect of an allozyme null to be 0.0015. Consideration of allozyme null-allele frequencies, the effects of allozyme null alleles on viability and fertility and the generally greater amount of genetic variability at allozyme loci determined by electrophoresis lead us to doubt the validity of generalizing from allozyme data to the whole genome.