Synergistic Effect of Inbreeding on Viability in DROSOPHILA VIRILIS.
The effect of inbreeding on egg to adult viability was determined for Drosophila virilis over a wide range of inbreeding levels (0 < F <.734). The quantity -log(e) (Viability) was found to be a curvilinear function of F, indicating synergistic interaction among loci. The curvature was not evident, however, below F =.500. The values of A and B (Mortonet al. 1956) were calculated to be.06 and.77-.86, respectively. This extremely small value of A yielded a very large value for the B/A ratio i.e., 12.51-14.99.
Kosuda
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Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 158, Japan.