title: Patterns of microsatellite variability in the Drosophila melanogaster complex.
abstract: Forty-seven microsatellite loci were amplified in Drosophila melanogaster, Drosophila simulans, Drosophila mauritiana and Drosophila sechellia. The two cosmopolitan species D. melanogaster and D. simulans were found to be the most variable ones, followed by D. mauritiana and D. sechellia. A model based clustering algorithm was applied to the population samples of D. melanogaster, D. simulans and D. sechellia. No evidence for population substructure was detected within species--most likely due to insufficient power. A Markov chain Monte Carlo method developed for demographic inference based on microsatellites provided unambiguous evidence for population contraction in D. melanogaster, D. simulans and D. sechellia, despite that the D. melanogaster and D. simulans population samples were of non-African origin and represented recently expanded populations.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Tierzucht und Genetik, Veterinärmedizinische Universität Wien, Veterinärplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Bettina
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Harr
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schlötterer
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006579:Heterozygote; D008390:Markov Chains; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D009154:Mutation; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction