Population Genetic Studies of Alleles at the a+ Locus in Ephestia kuhniella

MATING BEHAVIOR AND FITNESS AS A FUNCTION OF SINGLE ALLELE DIFFERENCES IN EPHESTIA KÜHNIELLA Z.

“…Studies of crowded experimental laboratory populations of the meal moth with competition for the alleles at the a+ locus (Cotter, 1963) have shown that there is a tendency toward extinction of the a allele. These populations are maintained at a maximal density by food limitation, and are not directly comparable to natural populations which are limited principally by predation.…”

“…Among the biological manifestations of pleiotropy are: ( 1 ) reduced mean rate of development;( 2 ) decreased rate of oxygen EVOLUTION 21: 215-284. June, 1967 215 consumption (Caspari, 1948) : ( 3 ) higher preadult mortality (Kuhn, 1932; Cotter, 1963); (4) increased variance in rate of development; (5) reduction in the mean values of quantitative characteristics of the antennae of the adult (unpublished data) ; and (6) rapid loss of the a allele in experimental populations with the estimated selection coefficient = 0.35 (Cotter, 1963).The experiments reported in this paper were designed to test for differences in reproductive behavior of the mutant homozygote by comparing its behavior with that of the wild-type homozygote and heterozygote. Because the loss of the a allele in experimental populations was greater than that which was due to the reduced preadult viability of the a/a homozygote, it was thought that an alteration of normal mating behavior might account for the increased magnitude of the selection coefficient.…”

“…( 2 ) decreased rate of oxygen EVOLUTION 21: 215-284. June, 1967 215 consumption (Caspari, 1948) : ( 3 ) higher preadult mortality (Kuhn, 1932; Cotter, 1963); (4) increased variance in rate of development; (5) reduction in the mean values of quantitative characteristics of the antennae of the adult (unpublished data) ; and (6) rapid loss of the a allele in experimental populations with the estimated selection coefficient = 0.35 (Cotter, 1963).…”