Summary
David and his collaborators have reported that adult Drosophila melanogaster survive longer on 2 per cent ethanol than on distilled water, but that the increased survival on ethanol does not occur in mutant flies lacking alcohol dehydrogenase activity. This has led us to enquire if the polymorphic alleles at the alcohol dehydrogenase locus (AdhF and Adhs), which code for enzymes with different activities, affect survival on low concentrations of ethanol. Flies were kept in sealed glass chambers containing either 2 per cent ethanol or distilled water. In four experiments, comprising a total of 126 replicates, the proportion of surviving FF flies, relative to SS, was greater on ethanol than on water. In two experiments the excess was highly significant. It appears that FF flies are better able than SS to use ethanol as food. Our results support the view that selection acts directly on the Adh polymorphism.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
References
Birley, A J. 1971. Selection modes in genetic polymorphisms. Ph.D. thesis, University College of Swansea.
Briscoe, D A, Robertson, A, and Malpica, J M. 1975. Dominance at Adh locus in response of adult Drosophila melanogaster to environmental alcohol. Nature, 255, 148–149.
Clarke, B. 1975. The contribution of ecological genetics to evolutionary theory: detecting the direct effect of natural selection on particular polymorphic loci. Genetics, 79, 101–113.
Clarke, B, Camfield, R O, Calvin, A M, and Pitts, C R. 1979. Environmental factors affecting the quantity of alcohol dehydrogenase in Drosophila melanogaster. Nature, 280, 517–518.
David, J R. 1977. Signification d'un polymorphisme enzymatique: la déshydrogénase alcoolique chez Drosophila melanogaster. Ann Biol, 16, 451–472.
David, J R, Bocquet, C, Arens, M F, and Fouillet, P. 1976. Biological role of alcohol dehydrogenase in the tolerance of Drosophila melanogaster to aliphatic alcohols: utilization of an ADH-null mutant. Biochem Genet, 14, 989–997.
Day, T H, Hillier, P C, and Clarke, B. 1974. The relative quantities and catalytic activities of enzymes produced by alleles at the alcohol dehydrogenase locus in Drosophila melanogasier. Biochem Genet, 11, 155–165.
Everitt, B S. 1977. The Analysis of Contingency Tables. Chapman and Hall, London.
Morgan, P. 1975. Selection acting directly on an enzyme polymorphism. Heredity, 34, 124–127.
Nelder, J A. 1975. GLIM Manual, Release 2, General Linear Interactive Modelling. Numerical Algorithms Group, 13 Banbury Road, Oxford.
Thatcher, D R. 1980. The complete amino acid sequence of three alcohol dehydrogenase alleloenzymes (AdhN-11, AdhS and AdhUF) from the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster. Biochem J 187, 875–886.
Van Delden, W, Boerema, A C, and Ramping, A. 1978. The alcohol dehydrogenase polymorphism in populations of Drosophila melanogaster. I. Selection in different environments. Genetics, 90, 161–191.
Vigue, C L, and Johnson, F M. 1973. Isozyme variability in species of the genus Drosophila. VI. Frequency-property-environment relationships of allelic alcohol dehydrogenases in D. melanogaster. Biochem Genet, 9, 213–227.
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements.-We are grateful to the Science Research Council for financial support.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Daly, K., Clarke, B. Selection associated with the alcohol dehydrogenase locus in Drosophila melanogaster: Differential survival of adults maintained on low concentrations of ethanol. Heredity 46, 219–226 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1981.29
Received:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1981.29
This article is cited by
-
Molecular analysis of Gpdh null mutations that arose in mutation accumulation experiments in Drosophila melanogaster
Heredity (1994)
-
Perturbation of gene frequencies in a natural population of Drosophila melanogaster: evidence for selection at the Adh locus
Genetica (1994)
-
The involvement of alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase in alcohol/aldehyde metabolism in Drosophila melanogaster
Genetica (1991)
-
The process of adaptation of flour beetles to new environments
Genetica (1988)
-
Functional and biochemical features of alcohol dehydrogenase in four species of the obscura group of Drosophila
Genetica (1988)
