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. 1980 Feb;77(2):1091–1095. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.2.1091

Enzyme null alleles in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster: Frequencies in a North Carolina population

Robert A Voelker 1, Charles H Langley 1, Andrew J Leigh Brown 1,*, Seido Ohnishi 1, Barbara Dickson 1, Elizabeth Montgomery 1, Sandra C Smith 1,†
PMCID: PMC348430  PMID: 16592770

Abstract

A Raleigh, NC, population of Drosophila melanogaster was sampled for the presence of enzyme null alleles at 25 loci. No nulls were found at any of five X-linked loci. Nulls were recovered at 13 of 20 autosomal loci; the weighted mean frequency for all 20 autosomal loci was estimated to be 0.0025. A consideration of the effects of these null alleles on viability strongly suggests that, although they may contribute to so-called polygenic variation, they are not representative of the entire genome.

Keywords: allozymes, enzyme deficiencies

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Selected References

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