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. 2009 Sep 13:2010:759159.
doi: 10.4061/2009/759159.

Heritability of Directional Asymmetry in Drosophila melanogaster

Ashley J R Carter  1 , Elizabeth Osborne, David Houle
Affiliations

Heritability of Directional Asymmetry in Drosophila melanogaster

Ashley J R Carter et al. Int J Evol Biol. .

Abstract

Directional asymmetry (DA), the consistent difference between a pair of morphological structures in which the same side is always larger than the other, presents an evolutionary mystery. Although many paired traits show DA, genetic variation for DA has not been unambiguously demonstrated. Artificial selection is a powerful technique for uncovering selectable genetic variation; we review and critique the limited number of previous studies that have been performed to select on DA and present the results of a novel artificial selection experiment on the DA of posterior crossvein location in Drosophila wings. Fifteen generations of selection in two genetically distinct lines were performed and none of the lines showed a significant response to selection. Our results therefore support and reconfirm previous findings; despite apparent natural variation and evolution of DA in nature, DA remains a paradoxical trait that does not respond to artificial selection.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Image of splined Drosophila melanogaster wing and distances used in study. (a) Original photographic image of wing with B-spline overlay. White arrows indicate user-defined landmarks used by the B-spline algorithm and two veins used in distance calculations labeled. (b) Wing-vein intersections shown with the two distances used in this study indicated by heavy black lines.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mean directional asymmetry (DA) of each generation for four lines, two originally from Florida (FL) and two from Illinois (IL). The y-axis shows the mean DA (left-right) value in millimeters for the 100 individuals measured in each line in each generation. L indicates means for lines selected to move the crossvein left (to decrease DA value) and R those selected to move the crossvein right (to increase DA value).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Cumulative selection differential versus cumulative response. Abbreviations as in Figure 2. Note that the position of the open symbols above the zero cumulative-response line is mainly due to the low first-generation value of the Illinois population (lines L-IL and R-IL).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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