Pleiotropic Effects on Fitness of Mutations Affecting Viability in DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER
Simmons, M.J.; Preston, C.R.; Engels, W.R.
Genetics 94(2): 467-475
1980
ISSN/ISBN: 0016-6731 PMID: 17249005 Document Number: 159077
The relative viabilities and fitnesses of wild-type D. melanogaster 2nd chromosomes in heterozygous condition were determined. Joint analysis of these permitted an estimation of a parameter that relates the viability effect of a mutation to its effect on fitness as a whole. For newly arisen mutations, the estimate was slightly > 1, indicating that the reductions in viability caused by these mutations are associated with reductions in other components of fitness. For mutations from an equilibrium population, the estimate of the parameter was near zero, implying that the deleterious viability effects of these mutations are compensated by improvements in other aspects of fitness.