Genetic load and viability variation in korean natural populations ofDrosophila melanogaster

Summary Natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster from Anyang and Susac (suburbs of Seoul) have been analyzed with respect to viability variation on the second chromosome. Homozygotes as well as random heterozygotes for wild chromosomes were studied. The frequency of lethal factors was about 16 per cent, that of drastics 26 per cent. The average viability of homozygotes was 0.650 including lethal lines and 0.858 for quasinormals; that for random heterozygotes was 1.125. Allelism tests have been performed for the lethals. The allelism rate turned out to be as high as 0.036 and 0.0214, respectively. Using a formula by Nei, the effective population size can be estimated from these data. Korean D. melanogaster populations proved as small as 2000 to 3000 individuals. No correlation between homozygous and heterozygous viabilities could be found. According to these observations, along with the fact that partly big clusters of identic lethals could be found in the allelism tests, it is concluded that in Korean populations quite a large part of the hard genetic load is balanced. The connection between population size, population structure and associative or genuine overdominance is discussed.