Analysis of genetic variance for body weight in a Korean natural population of Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

We estimated genetic variance components for body weight in D. melanogaster. The second chromosomes of 98 lines were extracted from a Korean natural population. Analyses of heritability and genetic variance were performed by partial diallelic crosses. The correlation coefficient (r) of body weight between females and males was estimated to be 0.2817, which was highly significant at the 0.1% significance level. The heritability (H2) was estimated to be 0.317 for females and 0.308 for males; the additive genetic variance (σA) 0.00136±0.00096 and 0.00127±0.00047; the dominance variance (σ2D) -0.00014 ± 0.00031 and -0.00052±0.00026, respectively. These data indicate that, in this population, mutation-selection balance might be an explanation for the mechanism for the maintenance of genetic variability of body weight.