effect of inbreeding on fluctuating asymmetry of wing veins in two laboratory strains of Drosophila melanogaster

Many authors have proposed that inbreeding destabilizes developmental processes. This destabilization may be reflected by increased fluctuating asymmetry (FA) in inbred compared to relatively outbred populations, but many studies have failed to find such differences. We measured the left and right w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Heredity 2009-06, Vol.102 (6), p.563-572
Main Authors: Carter, A.J.R, Weier, T.M, Houle, D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal populations
Animals
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
blood veins
Body Patterning
Cytogenetics
Developmental biology
Drosophila melanogaster
Drosophila melanogaster - anatomy & histology
Drosophila melanogaster - chemistry
Drosophila melanogaster - genetics
Drosophila melanogaster - growth & development
Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
Experimental design
fluctuating asymmetry
Human Genetics
inbred lines
Inbreeding
insect morphology
Insects
Measurement
Models, Genetic
original-article
Plant Genetics and Genomics
strains
wing veins
wings
Wings, Animal - anatomy & histology
Wings, Animal - chemistry
Wings, Animal - growth & development
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Summary:Many authors have proposed that inbreeding destabilizes developmental processes. This destabilization may be reflected by increased fluctuating asymmetry (FA) in inbred compared to relatively outbred populations, but many studies have failed to find such differences. We measured the left and right wings of a large number of individual Drosophila melanogaster from two genetically distinct populations to estimate changes in FA caused by inbreeding. The large sample size and experimental design allowed removal of potentially confounding directional asymmetry (DA) and measurement error terms. Trait means in the two populations were essentially unchanged by inbreeding (less than 0.5% smaller in both populations). Inbred lines showed higher signed FA variances (16 and 38% higher, significantly so in one population) and higher unsigned FA means (3.7 and 13.2%, significantly increased in one population). Significant DA was found in both populations, although the pattern differed between populations. DA did not change due to inbreeding.
ISSN:0018-067X
1752-0894
1365-2540
1752-0908
DOI:10.1038/hdy.2009.13