A biometrical genetic approach to chromosome analysis in Drosophila: detection of epistatic interactions in geotaxis

Chromosome analysis has been widely used as a first step in elucidating the genetic architecture of several behaviors of Drosophila melanogaster. These chromosome studies have generally used incomplete designs or fairly simple statistical analyses. Here I reanalyze two data sets on geotaxis from Pyle (1978) and Ksander (1966) using a biometrical genetic design. Results from the biometrical genetic reanalysis suggest that individual differences in geotaxis might be due to genes on all three major chromosomes which show extensive epistatic interactions.