PLEIOTROPY AND COMPETITION AT THE VERMILION LOCUS IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER
- 1 July 1959
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Vol. 45 (7) , 993-996
- https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.45.7.993
Abstract
As a criterion of fitness, competitiveness under very crowded conditions was studied. At a low level of competition there was no significant difference between flies with or without the suppressor. At a high level, the suppressor, when active, resulted in increased fitness of the males because of the eye pigment synthesis. This can be imitated by adding kynurenine which also increases the fitness of the males, Kynurenine is shown to act by increasing the number of males rather than by decreasing the number of females. Competition was almost completely larval. The vermilion gene, when expressed, has 2 pleiotropic effects, the inhibition of the brown pigment formation and the reduction in fitness compared with flies having the pigment. Both effects are probably associated with the conversion of tryptophan to kynurenine.This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:
- Competition between Genotypes in Drosophila melanogasterNature, 1958
- Mutant Isoalleles at the Vermilion Locus in Drosophila MelanogasterProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1952
- EFFECT OF DIET ON EYE-COLOR DEVELOPMENT IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTERThe Biological Bulletin, 1939