Skip to main content
PMC home page
Genetics logoLink to Genetics
. 1990 Jul;125(3):585–597. doi: 10.1093/genetics/125.3.585

Increased Selection Response in Larger Populations. II. Selection for Ethanol Vapor Resistance in Drosophila Melanogaster at Two Population Sizes

K E Weber 1, L T Diggins 1
PMCID: PMC1204085  PMID: 2116359

Abstract

The effect of large population size on selection response was investigated using Drosophila melanogaster, with four ``small'' lines of 160 selected parents/generation compared to two ``large'' lines of 1600 selected parents/generation. All lines were selected under similar conditions at a selection intensity of approximately 0.55 standard deviations, for 65 generations, for increased ethanol vapor resistance (measured in minutes required to become anesthetized). Two unselected control lines of 320 parents/generation were also maintained. A significant effect of population size was found. The final treatment means and standard errors were: 27.91 +/- 1.28 min (two ``large'' lines); 19.40 +/- 1.54 min (four ``small'' lines); and 4.98 +/- 0.35 min (two control lines). To estimate the mutation rate for the trait, two isogenic lines of about 400 selected parents were selected for 29 generations. The mean increase in additive genetic variance per generation was 0.0009 times the initial environmental variance of the outbred lines. This is comparable to other reported mutation rates. Mutation can explain part of the difference in evolved resistance between treatments, but it appears that even at rather large population sizes, a large difference in long-term response can be obtained in larger outbred lines, from more complete utilization of the initial genetic variation.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (1.4 MB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bryant E. H., McCommas S. A., Combs L. M. The Effect of an Experimental Bottleneck upon Quantitative Genetic Variation in the Housefly. Genetics. 1986 Dec;114(4):1191–1211. doi: 10.1093/genetics/114.4.1191. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bulmer M. G. Linkage disequilibrium and genetic variability. Genet Res. 1974 Jun;23(3):281–289. doi: 10.1017/s0016672300014920. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bulmer M. G. The effect of selection on genetic variability: a simulation study. Genet Res. 1976 Oct;28(2):101–117. doi: 10.1017/s0016672300016797. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Davies R. W. The genetic relationship of two quantitative characters in Drosophila melanogaster. II. Location of the effects. Genetics. 1971 Nov;69(3):363–375. doi: 10.1093/genetics/69.3.363. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. HARRISON M. F. Fluorine content of teas consumed in New Zealand. Br J Nutr. 1949;3(2-3):162–166. doi: 10.1079/bjn19490023. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Hill W. G. Predictions of response to artificial selection from new mutations. Genet Res. 1982 Dec;40(3):255–278. doi: 10.1017/s0016672300019145. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hill W. G., Rasbash J. Models of long term artificial selection in finite population. Genet Res. 1986 Aug;48(1):41–50. doi: 10.1017/s0016672300024642. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hill W. G. Rates of change in quantitative traits from fixation of new mutations. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 Jan;79(1):142–145. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.1.142. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. JAMES J. W. RESPONSE CURVES IN SELECTION EXPERIMENTS. Heredity (Edinb) 1965 Feb;20:57–63. doi: 10.1038/hdy.1965.7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Jones L. P., Frankham R., Barker J. S. The effects of population size and selection intesnity in selection for a quantitative character in Drosophila. II. Long-term response to selection. Genet Res. 1968 Dec;12(3):249–266. doi: 10.1017/s001667230001185x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Kimura M. Model of effectively neutral mutations in which selective constraint is incorporated. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Jul;76(7):3440–3444. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.7.3440. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. LERNER M., DEMPSTER E. R. Attenuation of genetic progress under continued selection in poultry. Heredity (Edinb) 1951 Apr;5(1):75–94. doi: 10.1038/hdy.1951.4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Lynch M. The rate of polygenic mutation. Genet Res. 1988 Apr;51(2):137–148. doi: 10.1017/s0016672300024150. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. MULLER H. J. THE RELATION OF RECOMBINATION TO MUTATIONAL ADVANCE. Mutat Res. 1964 May;106:2–9. doi: 10.1016/0027-5107(64)90047-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Roberts R. C. The limits to artificial selection for body weight in the mouse. I. The limits attained in earlier experiments. Genet Res. 1966 Dec;8(3):347–360. doi: 10.1017/s001667230001020x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Roberts R. C. The limits to artificial selection for body weight in the mouse. II. The genetic nature of the limits. Genet Res. 1966 Dec;8(3):361–375. doi: 10.1017/s0016672300010211. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Spickett S. G., Thoday J. M. Regular responses to selection. 3. Interaction between located polygenes. Genet Res. 1966 Feb;7(1):96–121. doi: 10.1017/s0016672300009502. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. TANTAWY A. O., MALLAH G. S., TEWFIK H. R. STUDIES ON NATURAL POPULATIONS OF DROSOPHILA. II. HERITABILITY AND RESPONSE TO SELECTION FOR WING LENGTH IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER AND D. SIMULANS AT DIFFERENT TEMPERATURES. Genetics. 1964 Jun;49:935–948. doi: 10.1093/genetics/49.6.935. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Thompson J. N., Jr Quantitative variation and gene number. Nature. 1975 Dec 25;258(5537):665–668. doi: 10.1038/258665a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Weber K. E. Increased selection response in larger populations. I. Selection for wing-tip height in Drosophila melanogaster at three population sizes. Genetics. 1990 Jul;125(3):579–584. doi: 10.1093/genetics/125.3.579. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Genetics are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES