Abstract:

The standard genetic distances were calculated with 3 allozyme loci in 2 local populations of Drosophila melanogaster from Turkey. One of the distances, i.e. obtained with alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh), was completely different from the distances with the other 2 allozyme loci, glycerophosphate dehydrogenase (aGpdh) and cytosolic malate dehydrogenase (Mdh1), leading to a statistically significant inflation in the cumulated distance value obtained over the 3 loci. It is shown that this final significant value was caused by the significant difference in allelic frequencies at the Adh loci across local populations. Implications of the different genetic distances in 2 local populations are discussed, especially with respect to putative selection pressures more stressed on the Adh than on the other 2 allozyme loci.

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