Spatial differences in patterns of modification: selection on hairy in Drosophila melanogaster wings

Artificial selection was carried out for over 45 generations to enhance and suppress expression of the mutation hairy on the Drosophila melanogaster wing. Whole chromosome mapping of X-linked and autosomal modifiers of sense organ number displayed regional differences in magnitude and direction of their effects. Regional specificity of modifier effects was also seen in some interchromosomal interactions. Scanning electron microscopy allowed precise measurement of sense organ size and position along the L3 longitudinal wing vein. Sense organ size varied in a predictable fashion along the proximal-distal axis, and the dorsal pattern differed from the ventral pattern. The high and low selection lines differed most in the proximal portion of the L3 vein. Extra sense organs in the High line were often associated with vein fragments at locations predicted from ancestral vein patterns. Thus, regional specificity of polygenic or quantitative trait locus modifier effects was identified in several different parts of the wing.