Detecting level of genetic differentiation in two closely related species of Drosophila: D. bipectinata and D. malerkotliana

A considerable amount of allozyme variation exists among different populations of a Drosophila species. Such allozyme variation can also be observed between two closely related species of Drosophila which show reproductive isolation but experience mating under laboratory conditions and produce hybrids. D. bipectinata and D. malerkotliana are two closely related sympatric species and belong to bipectinata species complex. Allozyme polymorphism studies conducted with them and their hybrids reveal that these two species have enough genetic differentiation due to allozyme variation at three enzyme coding loci; however, their hybrids exhibit common allozyme variants of both the species. The hybrids exhibit very little genetic differentiation from either of their parents.

Genetic variation of Abies alba Mill. in Polish part of Sudety Mts.

The genetic structure of silver fir (<em>Abies alba</em> Mill.) was investigated among 8 populations from Sudety Mts. and 2 additional populations from other parts of Poland. Nine enzyme systems controlled by 13 allozyme loci were analyzed using starch gel electrophoresis. The mean expected heterozygosity, ranging from 0.06 to 0.11 and was lower compared to that found in other conifers. The mean genetic distance among all silver fir populations was 0.005. The Sudeten group of populations appeared to be genetically different from the two populations from other parts of Poland, indicating that at least two different centers are responsible for the current distribution of allozyme polymorphism in the tested populations.