scholarly journals PROBLEMS IN STATISTICAL STUDIES ON PROTEIN POLYMORPHISM IN NATURAL POPULATIONS

Genetics ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 97 (2) ◽  
pp. 494B-494B
Author(s):  
P R Phillips ◽  
O Mayo
Genetics ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 88 (2) ◽  
pp. 367-390
Author(s):  
Ranajit Chakraborty ◽  
Paul A Fuerst ◽  
Masatoshi Nei

ABSTRACT With the aim of testing the validity of the mutation-drift hypothesis, we examined the pattern of genetic differentiation between populations by using data from Drosophila, fishes, reptiles, and mammals. The observed relationship between genetic identity and correlation of heterozygosities of different populations or species was generally in good agreement with the theoretical expectations from the mutation-drift theory, when the variation in mutation rate among loci was taken into account. In some species of Drosophila, however, the correlation was unduly high. The relationship between the mean and variance of genetic distance was also in good agreement with the theoretical prediction in almost all organisms. We noted that both the distribution of heterozygosity within species and the pattern of genetic differentiation between species can be explained by the same set of genetic parameters in each group of organisms. Alternative hypotheses for explaining these observations are discussed.


Genetics ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 97 (2) ◽  
pp. 494A-494A
Author(s):  
Masatoshi Nei ◽  
Ranajit Chakraborty ◽  
Paul A Fuerst

Genetics ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 94 (4) ◽  
pp. 1039-1063
Author(s):  
Ranajit Chakraborty ◽  
Paul A Fuerst ◽  
Masatoshi Nei

ABSTRACT With the aim of understanding the mechanism of maintenance of protein polymorphism, we have studied the properties of allele frequency distribution and the number of alleles per locus, using gene-frequency data from a wide range of organisms (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, Drosophila and non-Drosophila invertebrates) in which 20 or more loci with at least 100 genes were sampled. The observed distribution of allele frequencies was U-shaped in all of the 138 populations (mostly species or subspecies) examined and generally agreed with the theoretical distribution expected under the mutation-drift hypothesis, though there was a significant excess of rare alleles (gene frequency, 0 ~ 0.05) in about a quarter of the populations. The agreement between the mutation-drift theory and observed data was quite satisfactory for the numbers of polymorphic (gene frequency, 0.05 ~ 0.95) and monomorphic (0.95 ~ 1.O) alleles.—The observed pattern of allele-frequency distribution was incompatible with the prediction from the overdominance hypothesis. The observed correlations of the numbers of rare alleles, polymorphic alleles and monomorphic alleles with heterozygosity were of the order of magnitude that was expected under the mutation-drift hypothesis. Our results did not support the view that intracistronic recombination is an important source of genetic variation. The total number of alleles per locus was positively correlated with molecular weight in most of the species examined, and the magnitude of the correlation was consistent with the theoretical prediction from mutation-drift hypothesis. The correlation between molecular weight and the number of alleles was generally higher than the correlation between molecular weight and heterozygosity, as expected.


Genetics ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 86 (2) ◽  
pp. 455-483
Author(s):  
Paul A Fuerst ◽  
Ranajit Chakraborty ◽  
Masatoshi Nei

ABSTRACT Surveying the literature, the frequency distribution of single-locus heterozygosity among protein loci was examined in 95 vertebrate and 34 invertebrate species with the aim of testing the validity of the mutation-drift hypothesis. This distribution did not differ significantly from that expected under the mutation-drift hypothesis for any of the species examined when tested by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov goodness-of-fit statistic. The agreement between the observed interlocus variance of heterozygosity and its theoretical expectation was also satisfactory. There was an indication that variation in the mutation rate among loci inflates the interlocus variance of heterozygosity. The variance of heterozygosity for a homologous locus among different species was also studied. This variance generally agreed with the theoretical value very well, though in some groups of Drosophila species there was a significant discrepancy. The observed relationship between average heterozygosity and the proportion of polymorphic loci was in good agreement with the theoretical relationship. It was concluded that, with respect to the pattern of distribution of heterozygosity, the majority of data on protein polymorphisms are consistent with the mutation-drift hypothesis. After examining alternative possible explanations involving selection, it was concluded that the present data cannot be explained adequately without considering a large effect of random genetic drift, whether there is selection or not.


Author(s):  
G. E. Tyson ◽  
M. J. Song

Natural populations of the brine shrimp, Artemia, may possess spirochete- infected animals in low numbers. The ultrastructure of Artemia's spirochete has been described by conventional transmission electron microscopy. In infected shrimp, spirochetal cells were abundant in the blood and also occurred intra- and extracellularly in the three organs examined, i.e. the maxillary gland (segmental excretory organ), the integument, and certain muscles The efferent-tubule region of the maxillary gland possessed a distinctive lesion comprised of a group of spirochetes, together with numerous small vesicles, situated in a cave-like indentation of the base of the tubule epithelium. in some instances the basal lamina at a lesion site was clearly discontinuous. High-voltage electron microscopy has now been used to study lesions of the efferent tubule, with the aim of understanding better their three-dimensional structure.Tissue from one maxillary gland of an infected, adult, female brine shrimp was used for HVEM study.


Author(s):  
Kyle T. Thornham ◽  
R. Jay Stipes ◽  
Randolph L. Grayson

Dogwood anthracnose, caused by Discula destructiva (1), is another new catastrophic tree disease that has ravaged natural populations of the flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) in the Appalachians over the past 15 years, and the epidemic is prognosticated to continue (2). An estimated 9.5 million acres have been affected, primarily in the Appalachian Mountains, from VA southwards, alone, and an estimated 50% of all dogwoods in PA have been killed. Since acid deposition has been linked experimentally with disease induction, and since the disease incidence and severity are more pronounced at higher elevations where lower pH precipitation events occur, we investigated the effect of acidic foliar sprays on moiphologic changes in the foliar cuticle and trichomes (3), the initial sites of infection and foci of Discula sporulation.


2002 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 375-375
Author(s):  
T. T. Takeuchi ◽  
T. T. Ishii ◽  
T. Totani

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