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Updated: Jul 24, 2026

Maintenance of a Drosophila melanogaster Population Cage
Published on: March 15, 2016
Environment-influenced expression of polygene mutations isolated from a natural population of Drosophila melanogaster
J N Thompson1, M Jeung, J M Thoday
1Department of Zoology, University of Oklahoma, Norman 73019, USA. jthompson@ou.edu
Abstract:
Quantitative trait loci (QTLs) affecting sternopleural bristle number in Drosophila melanogaster have been mapped using phenotypic markers and progeny testing. The loci were found on four of the third chromosomes isolated from a natural population. All four loci showed large effects at the standard 25 degrees C culture temperature, but they responded in different ways when developmental temperature was lowered or raised. These data support the hypothesis that genotype x environment interactions have important influences on polygene expression, and some loci might be silent, or phenotypically neutral, under some conditions but play a large phenotypic role under others. Thus, a full cataloging of the loci contributing to mutational variance for QTLs cannot be done at just a single, controlled environmental condition.
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