Evidence for coadaptation: negative correlation between lethal genes and polymorphic inversions in Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

Through examination of all available data on lethal and inversion frequencies on the second chromosome in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster, we have discovered that there is a clear negative correlation between the two quantities. Lethal genes are located more densely on the regions of standard gene arrangement than the inverted regions, and this accounts for the negative correlation. To reveal the underlying mechanism of the phenomena, we have carried out an experiment and found that effect of EMS-induced mutations on the inversion-carrying chromosome is more severe than that on the standard chromosome. We interpret these results as evidence for coadaptation or position-effect within the inversion chromosomes. New mutations within the coadapted gene complex are quickly eliminated from the population and polymorphic inversions are kept free of mutants through selective elimination.