Protein polymorphism and genic heterozygosity in a wild population of the house mouse (Mus musculus)

Enzyme polymorphism in feral, outbred and inbred rats (Rattus norvegicus)

Polymorphism at 25 loci coding for liver enzymes was studied in two feral, three outbred and three inbred rat strains by starch gel electrophoresis. No variation was found at 14 loci, and a low degree of polymorphism was detected at three. Eight loci were polymorphic in more than one population. The average degree of heterozygosity per locus per individual feral rat was 0-07. The degrees of heterozygosity observed in the outbred and inbred strains were lower, from 0-006 to 0-012. Contrary to expectation, the inbred strains were neither monomorphic nor appreciably less heterozygous than the outbred ones. The heterozygosity of the inbred strains was primarily due to two polymorphic loci, G-3-pdh and alpha-Gpdh. The reason for this polymorphism is probably the superior homeostasis of the heterozygotes.

Genetic divergence of insular populations of deer mice

Electrophoretic variants at 28 genetic loci were analyzed in subspecies of Peromyscus maniculatus endemic to the Channel Islands of the California coast. The genetic variability within insular populations was calculated. These deer mice have relatively high levels of polymorphism for insular populations. The mean heterozygosity per individual varies in the populations, being much higher on one of the islands than the others. Nei's measure of genetic distance between groups compared on the basis of electrophoretic variants was used. His estimate of time of divergence of these groups, based on genetic distance, is applicable particularly to closely related groups. The length of time each island population has been isolated from the others was calculated and found to be consistent with the periods of isolation estimated on the basis of geological data.

Genetic structure and heterozygosity in the kuru region, eastern highlands of New Guinea

Genetic structure of 20 of the 37 linguistic groups in the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea including the kuru region is analyzed using information on blood groups and serum protein polymorphisms. The average individual is heterozygous at 28.6% of loci and the average number of alleles per locus is 1.234. Coefficients of kinship for linguistic groups range from 0.005 for the sweet potato cultivating North Fore to 0.075 for the isolated Pawaians whose dietary staple is sago and who depend more on hunting and gathering. As one selects linguistic groups with smaller and smaller population size and increasing isolation, one finds that kinship coefficients rise as much as tenfold, but there is no concomitant loss of heterozygosity or trend toward fixation of alleles. Genetic relationships established by genetic distance trees and by principal components analysis are comparable and are consistent with other anthropological observations.

Esterases in the mosquito Culex pipiens pipiens L: formal genetics and polymorphism of adult esterases

The genetics of two esterase loci active in autogenous adults of the mosquito Culex pipiens pipiens L. has been studied by means of starch gel electrophoresis. Three alleles at the Est-1 locus and eight at the Est-2 locus are described. Both loci have a null allele. Active alleles are codominant and there is no hybrid enzyme in heterozygotes. The Est-1 locus codes esterases preferentially hydrolyzing alpha-naphthylacetate and the Est-2 locus esterases preferentially hydrolyzing beta-naphthylacetate. Strains homozygous for both loci were selected. Linkage studies of the two loci have shown that they are not sex linked but are linked to each other, the crossover frequency being 8.6%. The polymorphism of two laboratory and two natural populations is described for both loci. Phenotypic distributions are in good agreement with Hardy-Weinberg expectations.

Strain distribution and linkage relationship of a mouse embryonic hemoglobin variant

Search for structural variants of three globin chains (x, y, z), synthesized only during mouse embryonic hematopoiesis, was carried out by electrophoretic analysis of blood from 12-day embryos, all with C57BL/6 mothers, and fathers from 115 inbred stocks selected for their diverse genetic origins. Structure of the beta-chains of adult hemoglobins differed among the tested strains, with 57 carrying the Hbbs allele, 56 the Hbbd allele, and two the Hbbp allele. The search revealed no x- or z-chain variants but confirmed and extended knowledge of a previously described y-chain variant. Blood of all embryos sired by males from the 57 Hbbs strains contained only y'-chains, while blood of au embryos sired by Hbbd or Hbbp males contained y2-chains as well as the y1-chains inherited from their C57BL/6 mother. The locus controlling structure of the y-chain of mouse embryonic hemoglobins is thus extremely closely linked to the locus controlling structure of adult hemoglobin beta-chain, with maximum possible recombination frequency less than 0.019.

[Relationship between heterozygosity as estimated from genetic markers and fertility in cattle : I. Estimation and dimension of heterozygosity in german cattle breeds]

Blood groups and biochemical markers were used to estimate heterozygosity in cows of Bavarian Fleckvieh (spotted upland), Braunvieh (brown), Hinterwälder and a Holstein-Friesian herd. These groups showed little difference in the estimated degree of heterozygosity which averaged around 35-40%. Within groups considerable variability of the estimated percentage heterozygosity existed. The range of estimated values extended from less than 10% to more than 70%. The group average of heterozygosity as estimated from the individual bloodgroups and biochemical markers exceeded the value estimated from population gene frequencies of the various loci. It is concluded that adult animals are more heterozygous than the average of the original calf (or embryo) population.

Food induced esterase phenocopies in the snail Cepaea nemoralis

Hepatopancreatic extracts from the snail Cepaea nemoralis, assayed straight from the field, often contain three or four heavily staining esterase zones which migrate to the cathodal end of polyacrylamide disc gels during electrophoresis. Previous breeding results showed that the heavily straining zones appeared allelic but to incorporate these multibanded phenotypes, a super gene of five closely linked loci was tentatively proposed. Further breeding work again failed to demonstrate multiple zones in parents or offspring and so experiments were conducted to see whether the multi-zoned phenotypes in the wild were produced by secondary modification of single primary products. Wild snails yielding extracts containing more than two heavily staining zones were shown to possess only two such zones after three months under laboratory conditions. Also, the ingestion of nettle (Urtica dioica L.) has been demonstrated to induce extra esterase zones in laboratory-reared animals. Some of the secondarily induced zones appear identical in physical, biochemical and electrophoretic properties to the primary products of other alleles, and thus appear to be electrophoretic phenocopies. A model is suggested which could account for this phenomenon.

High genetic variability in an ecologically variable vertebrate, Bufo viridis

Allozymic variation in proteins encoded by 26 loci was analyzed electrophoretically in 517 specimens of green toads from 11 populations from Israel and one population from Vis Island in the Adriatic Sea. Genetic variation in this toad is the highest yet reported in any vertebrate. All three genetic parameters, mean number of alleles per locus (A), mean proportion of loci polymorphic per population (P), and mean number of heterozygous loci per individual (H), are very high (A = 1.65, range 1.38-2.04; P = 0.423, range 0.346-0.615; H = 0.133, range 0.108-0.159). Central and marginal mainland populations are only slightly more variable than desert isolates, but much more variable than the Vis Island population. Genetic similarity is very high between mainland populations (S = 0.951, range 0.93-0.97). Frequencies of two alleles (Icd-lc and Tfa) are correlated with an ecological gradient of increasing aridity. Regulatory enzymes appeared to contribute more to overall polymorphism than non-regulatory enzymes. The genetic variation observed suggests that selection for heterozygosity as an adaptive strategy is operating in the ecologically variable environment in which green toads live.

[Biochemical polymorphism of Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica): comparison of functionally different proteins (author's transl)]

The polymorphism observed among the enzymes involved in the respiratory metabolism (lactate dehydrogenase, malate dehydrogenase, phosphoglucomutase, phosphohexoseisomerase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase fructose 1-6 diphosphate dehydrogenase) is less important than that of the enzymes physiologically less essential, such as the various esterases, the alkaline phosphatase, the alcohol dehydrogenase, and of the non-enzymatic proteins (ovalbumin, ovoglobulins, ovomucoid, conalbumin, transferrin, etc.).

Monomorphism and heterozygosity

A myth about the relation between monomorphism and heterozygosity is dispelled: the observed relation provided no evidence for (or against) neutral mutations.

Protein variation in strains of mice differing in body size

Nine (41%) of the 22 enzymic and non-enzymic loci examined in a strain of mice divergently selected for six-week body weight (six lines selected in each direction and six controls) were found to be polymorphic. The degree of polymorphism varied between the replicates from a maximum of 38% to a minimum of 14% with an average individual heterozygous at 7·7% of its loci. There was no obvious association between any of the isozyme variants and body size. The frequency distribution among the 18 lines was adequately accounted for by random genetic drift. However, an association was observed between body size and theHbblocus; theHbbsallele was found to be fixed in all of the six Large lines. An examination of the variance of gene frequencies at this locus excluded random genetic drift as an explanation for the fixation.

A deterministic model of cyclical selection

A deterministic model of cyclical selection in randomly mating populations is studied. Sufficient conditions for a protected polymorphism, which are for the special case of alternating selection also necessary conditions, are obtained using a simple graphical approach. The most important condition requires ‘marginal overdominance’ (Wallace, 1968); the other conditions seem hard to satisfy in a natural situation. Furthermore it is shown that the cyclical selection model can be regarded as a special case of a frequency-dependent selection model (Cockerhamet al.1972). Using this property, a mean fitness function for the cyclical selection model is derived. Generally, the mean fitness will not be maximized under cyclical selection. The relevance of the model to the problem of the role of cyclical selection in the maintenance of genetic polymorphism in natural populations is discussed. It is concluded that this relevance is probably rather limited with regard to the creation of protected polymorphism, but that the influence of cyclical selection on transient polymorphisms might be more significant. An approximate formula for the time needed for a given change in gene frequency under cyclical selection is derived. It appears that cyclical selection can extend considerably the time during which a transient polymorphism persists, especially if the selective differences in the different environments are of the same order of magnitude and of opposite sign.

Elephant seals: genetic variation and near extinction

Blood samples from northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris), representing five breeding colonies in California and Mexico, were surveyed electrophoretically for protein variation reflecting underlying genetic differences. No polymorphisms were found among 21 proteins encoded by 24 loci. This uniform homozygosity may be a consequence of fixation of alleles brought about by the decimation of this species by sealers in the last century.

A general model to account for enzyme variation in natural populations

Approximate conditions for genetic polymorphism in temporally and spatially varying environments are presented for loci which are intermediate at the level of fitness or at the level of gene function. The conditions suggest that polymorphism will be more likely in more variable environments while unlikely in constant environments. Biochemical evidence is presented to justify the assumption of heterozygote intermediacy. Observations on natural populations are cited which substantiate the claim that allozymic polymorphism is primarily due to selection acting on environmental variation in gene function.

Genetic variation in a gradient of environmental variability: marine bivalvia (Mollusca)

Six bivalve mollusk species were sampled for genetic variability at two enzyme synthesizing loci. The effective number of alleles and absolute number of alleles decreased with depth of burial within the sediment, intertidally, and with depth of water, subtidally. It is proposed that environmental variability regulates genetic variability at these two loci.

Evidence for the neutral hypothesis of protein polymorphism

Data for some 400 polymorphic proteins were examined with special reference to molecular evolution, by using a statistic that depends on neither mutation rate, population structure, nor other ecological factors. The result indicates that most of these polymorphisms are maintained in a population by mutation and random genetic drift.

Enzyme variability in the Drosophila willistoni group. IV. Genic variation in natural populations of Drosophila willistoni

We describe allelic variation at 28 gene loci in natural populations of D. willistoni. Seventy samples were studied from localities extending from Mexico and Florida, through Central America, the West Indies, and tropical South America, down to South Brazil. At least several hundred, and often several thousand, genomes were sampled for each locus. We have discovered a great deal of genetic variation. On the average, 58% loci are polymorphic in a given population. (A locus is considered polymorphic when the frequency of the most common allele is no greater than 0.95). An individual fly is heterozygous, on the average, at 18.4% loci.-Concerning the pattern of the variation, the most remarkable finding is the similarity of the configuration of allelic frequencies from locality to locality throughout the distribution of the species. Our observations support the conclusion that balancing natural selection is the major factor responsible for the considerable genetic variation observed in D. willistoni.

Es-3 ESTERASES IN ERYTHROCYTES OF MUS MUSCULUS

An esterase found in low frequency in the erythrocytes of wild mice is probably controlled by a fourth allele, tentatively designated Es-3d, at the Es-3 locus. Attempts to characterize this new esterase, using substrate specificity, temperature sensitivity, and interaction with eserine sulphate and iodoacetamide, have shown it to behave like the other esterases controlled by this locus.