Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T07:24:10.076Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Phenotypic plasticity for life-history traits in Drosophila melanogaster. III. Effect of the environment on genetic parameters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2009

M. D. Gebhardt  and
S. C. Stearns
M. D. Gebhardt*
Affiliation:
Zoologisches Institut, Rheinsprung 9, CH-4051 Basel, Switzerland
S. C. Stearns
Affiliation:
Zoologisches Institut, Rheinsprung 9, CH-4051 Basel, Switzerland
*
† Corresponding author.
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

We estimated genetic and environmental variance components for developmental time and dry weight at eclosion in Drosophila melanogaster raised in ten different environments (all combinations of 22, 25 and 28°C and 0·5, 1 and 4% yeast concentration, and 0·25% yeast at 25°C). We used six homozygous lines derived from a natural population for complete diallel crosses in each environment. Additive genetic variances were consistently low for both traits (h2 around 10%). The additive genetic variance of developmental time was larger at lower yeast concentrations, but the heritability did not increase because other components were also larger. The additive genetic effects of the six parental lines changed ranks across environments, suggesting a mechanism for the maintenance of genetic variation in heterogenous environments.

The variance due to non-directional dominance was small in most environments. However, there was directional dominance in the form of inbreeding depression for both traits. It was pronounced at high yeast levels and temperatures but disappeared when yeast or temperature were decreased. This meant that the heterozygous flies were more sensitive to environmental differences than homozygous flies. Because dominance effects are not heritable, this suggests that the evolution of plasticity can be constrained when dominance effects are important as a mechanism for plasticity.

Type
Research Article
Information
Genetics Research , Volume 60 , Issue 2 , October 1992 , pp. 87 - 101
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

References

Anxolabéhère, D.Kai, H.Nouaud, D.Periquet, G. & Ronsseray, S. (1984). The geographical distribution of P-M hybrid dysgenesis in Drosophila melanogaster. Gene'tique, Selection, Evolution 16, 15–26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bradshaw, A. D. (1965). Evolutionary significance of phenotypic plasticity in plants. Advances in Genetics 13,115–155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buzzati-Traverso, A. A. (1955). Evolutionary changes in components of fitness and other polygenic traits in Drosophila melanogaster populations. Heredity 9, 153–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cockerham, C. C. & Weir, B. S. (1977). Quadratic analyses of reciprocal crosses. Biometrics 33, 187–203.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Craymer, L. (1984). A procedure for constructing isogenic stocks. Drosophila Information Service 60, 78–79.Google Scholar
Delcour, J. (1969). Influence de l'âge parental sur la dimension des ceufs, la duree de developpement, et la taille thoracique des descendants, chez Drosophila melanogaster. Journal of Insect Physiology 15, 1999–2011.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engels, W. R. (1983). The P family of transposable elements in Drosophila. Annual Review of Genetics 17, 315–344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Falconer, D. S. (1989). Introduction to Quantitative Genetics, 3rd edn. London and New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Fisher, R. A. (1931). Evolution of dominance. Biological Reviews 6, 345–368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garrard, G.Harrison, G. A. & Weiner, J. S. (1974). Genetic influences on mouse growth at 23 and 32 °C. Australian Journal of Biological Sciences 27, 197–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gebhardt, M. D. (1989). The quantitative genetics of phenotypic plasticity of life history traits in Drosophila. PhD Thesis, University of Basel.Google Scholar
Gebhardt, M. D. & Stearns, S. C. (1988). Reaction norms for Cellularity time and weight at eclosion in Drosophila mercatorum. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 1, 335–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gebhardt, M. D. & Stearns, S. C. (1993). Phenotypic plasticity for life history traits in Drosophila melanogaster. I. Effect on environmental correlations. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, (in the press).Google Scholar
Giesel, J. T. (1988). Effects of parental photoperiod on development time and density sensitivity of progeny in Drosophila melanogaster. Evolution 42, 1348–1350.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Giesel, J. T. & Nieman, M. (1985). Effects of exposing Drosophila melanogaster parents to ethanol on expression of vestigial in their progeny. Journal of Experimental Zoology 233, 467–471.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gillespie, J. H. & Turelli, M. (1989). Genotype-environment interaction and the maintenance of polygenic variation. Genetics 121, 129–138.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Griffing, B. (1956). A generalised treatment of the use of diallel crosses in quantiative inheritance. Heredity 10, 31–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayman, B. I. (1954). The analysis of variance of diallel tables. Biometrics 10, 235–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hinkelmann, K. (1977). Diallel and multi-cross designs: What do they achieve? In Proceedings of the First International Conference on Quantitative Genetics (ed. Weir, B.SEisen, E. JGoodman, M. M. and Namkoong, G.), pp. 659–676. Sunderland, Massachusetts: Sinauer.Google Scholar
Janssen, G. M.de Jong, G.Joosse, E. N. G. & Scharloo, W. (1988). A negative maternal effect in springtails. Evolution 42, 828–834.Google Scholar
Jinks, J. L. & Pooni, H. S. (1987). The genetic basis of environmental sensitivity. In Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Quantitative Genetics (ed. Weir, B.SEisen, E. J.Goodman, M. M. and Namkoong, G.), pp. 505–522. Sunderland, Massachusetts: Sinauer.Google Scholar
Jong, G. de (1990). Quantitative genetics of reaction norms. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 3, 447–468.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kearsey, M. J. & Kojima, K.-I. (1967). The genetic architecture of body weight and egg hatchability in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 56, 23–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kidwell, M. G. & Novy, J. B. (1979). Hybrid dysgenesis in Drosophila melanogaster: sterility resulting from gonadal dysgenesis in the P-M system. Genetics 92, 1127–1140.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kirkpatrick, M. & Lande, R. (1989). The evolution of maternal characters. Evolution 43, 485–503.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lerner, I. M. (1954). Genetic Homeostasis. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd.Google Scholar
Lindsley, D. L. & Grell, E. H. (1968). Genetic variations of Drosophila melanogaster. Washington: Carnegie Institute. Publication no. 627.Google Scholar
Mackay, T. F. C. (1985). A quantitative genetic analysis of fitness and its components in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetical Research 47, 59–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markow, T. A. & Ankney, P. F. (1988). Insemination reaction in Drosophila: found in species whose males contribute material to oocytes before fertilization. Evolution 41, 1097–1101.Google Scholar
Mather, K. (1953). The genetical structure of populations. Symposium of the Society for Experimental Biology 1, 66–95.Google Scholar
Mukai, T. (1987). Genotype-environment interaction in relation to the maintenance of genetic variability in populations of Drosophila melanogaster. In Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Quantitative Genetics (ed. Weir, B. S.Eisen, E. J.Goodman, M. M., and Namkoong, G.), pp. 21–31. Sunderland, Massachusetts: Sinauer.Google Scholar
Murphy, P. A.Giesel, J. T. & Manlove, M. N. (1983). Temperature effects on life-history variation in Drosophila simulans. Evolution 37, 1181–1192.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
ParkerJr., E. D. Jr., E. D. (1984). Reaction norms of development rate among diploid clones of the parthenogenetic cockroach Pycnoscelus surinamensis. Evolution 38, 1186–1193.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parsons, P. A. (1962). Maternal age and Cellularity variability. Journal of Experimental Biology 39, 251–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parsons, P. A. (1987). Evolutionary rates under environmental stress. Evolutionary Biology 21, 311–347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prabhu, S. S. & Robertson, F. W. (1961). The ecological genetics of growth in Drosophila. 5. Gene-environment interaction and inbreeding. Genetical Research 2, 424–430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roff, D. A. & Mousseau, T. A. (1987). Quantitative genetics and fitness: lessons from Drosophila. Heredity 58, 103–118.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
SAS (1985). User's Guide: Statistics, Version 5 edition. Cary, North Carolina: SAS Institute Inc..Google Scholar
Scheiner, S. M. & Lyman, R. F. (1991). The genetics of phenotypic plasticity. II. Response to selection. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 4, 23–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shaw, R. G. (1987). Maximum-likelihood approaches applied to quantitative genetics of natural populations. Evolution 41, 812–826.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simmons, M. J. & Crow, J. F. (1977). Mutations affecting fitness in Drosophila populations. Annual Review of Genetics 11, 49–78.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sokal, R. R. & Rohlf, F. J. (1981). Biometry. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman and Company.Google Scholar
Sork, V. L. (1989). Effect of nutrient availability on inbreeding depression and seed paternity in a North American annual legume, Chamaecrista fasciculata. Second Congress of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (Rome) (Abstract), 64.Google Scholar
Stearns, S. C. & Koella, J. C. (1986). The evolution of phenotypic plasticity in life-history traits: predictions of reaction norms for age and size at maturity. Evolution 40, 893–913.Google ScholarPubMed
Stearns, S. CDiggelmann, T.Gebhardt, M.Bachmann, H. & Wechsler, R. (1987). A device for collecting flies of precisely determined post-hatching age. Drosophila In-formation Service 66, 167–169.Google Scholar
Via, S. & Lande, R. (1985). Genotype-environment in-teraction and the evolution of phenotypic plasticity. Evolution 39, 505–522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walters, D. E. & Gale, J. S. (1977). A note on the Hayman analysis of variance for a full diallel table. Heredity 38, 401–407.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, S. (1977). Evolution and the Genetics of Populations. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar