INCREASE IN FITNESS IN EXPERIMENTAL POPULATIONS RESULTING FROM HETEROSIS
- 15 November 1958
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Vol. 44 (11) , 1136-1141
- https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.44.11.1136
Abstract
Introduction of a single set of haploid autosomes into an experimental P melanogaster population equilibrated by natural selection, results in an approximately threefold rise in the collective size and production of the population. The environment was rigidly controlled throughout. The biomass of the experimental populations transgressed also the level maintained by that control population which was used as a donor of the introduced wild/type chromosomes. The data suggest that simple heterosis without coadaptation (= luxuriance) may contribute directly to fitness. Natural selection appears not only to prevent the breakdown of the immediate heterosis but also to maintain it through favoring the development of balanced polymorphism.This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:
- EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF GENE FREQUENCIES IN VERY SMALL POPULATIONS OF DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER. III. ARISTAPEDIA AND SPINELESSEvolution, 1954
- Adaptative and selective responses of a population ofDrosophila melanogaster containinge ande+ to differences in temperature, humidity and to selection for developmental speedJournal of Genetics, 1945