Effect of short term directional selection on genetic variability: experiments with Drosophila melanogaster

Experimental checks on theoretical predictions of the build up of negative linkage disequilibrium with directional selection were made using abdominal bristle number in Drosophila melanogaster. Selection was practised for three generations before relaxation. Realized heritabilities and thus genotype variances were estimated by divergent selection. In one replicate, little change of variance occurred but in the other it increased substantially on relaxation. This result is compatible with a model of one or more genes of large effect at extreme frequencies in the base population. This is illustrated with Monte Carlo simulations. Interpretations of results was aided by considering the build up of negative disequilibrium.