Abstract
Heterozygosity for loci coding for soluble proteins often is correlated with indicators of fitness such as body size, deviation from the population mean, or fluctuating asymmetry (FA). A large sample of over 900 forked fungus beetles (Bolitotherus cornutus) was measured for a series of morphological characters and genotyped using electrophoresis. No significant associations were found among heterozygosity and any of these fitness indicators at either the level of individual beetles or populations of beetles. There is no indication that individuals of extreme phenotypes have higher levels of FA. Furthermore there are weak correlations among the FA values of different characters, which is consistent with expectations of developmental instability but an unusual empirical result. Seemingly general patterns of heterozygosity and heterosis can be rejected in this species.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
References
Booth, C L, Woodruff, D S, and Gould, S J. 1990. Lack of significant associations between allozyme heterozygosity and phenotypic traits in the land snail Cerion. Evolution, 44, 210–213.
Borror, D J, De Long, D M, and Triplehorn, C A. 1981. An Introduction to the Study of Insects, Fifth Edition. Saunders, Philadelphia.
Bottini, E, Gloria-Bottini, F, Lucarelli, P, Polzinetti, A, Santoro, F, and Varveri, A. 1979. Genetic polymorphisms and intrauterine development: Evidence of decreased heterozygosity in light for dates human newborn babies. Experientia, 35, 1565–1567.
Brown, L, and Bartalon, J. 1986. Behavioral correlates of male morphology in a horned beetle. Am Nat, 127, 565–570.
Chakraborty, R. 1987. Biochemical heterozygosity and phenotypic variability of polygenic traits. Heredity, 59, 19–28.
Charlesworth, D, and Charlesworth, B. 1987. Inbreeding depression and its evolutionary consequences. Ann Rev Ecol Syst, 18, 237–268.
Conner, J. 1988. Field measurements of natural and sexual selection in the fungus beetle, Bolitotherus cornutus.. Evolution, 42, 736–749.
Conner, J. 1989. Density-dependent sexual selection in the fungus beetle, Bolitotherus cornutus. Evolution, 43, 1378–1386.
Eanes, W F. 1978. Morphological variance and enzyme heterozygosity in the monarch butterfly. Nature, 276, 263–264.
Falconer, D S. 1981. Introduction to Quantitative Genetics. Longman Scientific and Technical, New York.
Fleisher, R C, Johnson, R F, and Klitz, W J. 1983. Allozymic heterozygosity and morphological variation in house sparrows. Nature, 304, 628–630.
Flury, B. 1988. Common Principle Components and Related Multivariate Models. Wiley, New York.
Fox, S F. 1975. Natural selection on morphological pheno-types of the lizard Uta stansburiana. Evolution, 29, 95–107.
Handford, P. 1980. Heterozygosity at enzyme loci and morphological variation. Nature, 286, 261–262.
Hebert, P D N, and Beaton, M. 1989. Cellulose Acetate Gel Electrophoresis. Helena Laboratories, Beaumont, TX.
Houle, D. 1989. Allozyme-associated heterosis in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics, 123, 789–801.
Kat, P W. 1982. The relationship between heterozygosity for enzyme loci and developmental homeostasis in peripheral populations of aquatic bivalves (Unionidae). Am Nat, 119, 824–832.
Leamy, L. 1982. Morphometric studies in inbred and hybrid house mice.II. Patterns in the variances. J Hered, 73, 267–272.
Leamy, L. 1984. Morphometric studies in inbred and hybrid house mice. V. Directional and fluctuating asymmetry. Am Nat, 123, 579–593.
Leary, R F, and Allendorf, F W. 1989. Fluctuating asymmetry as in indication of stress: Implications for conservation biology. TREE, 4, 214–217.
Leary, R F, Allendorf, F W, and Knudson, R L. 1983. Development stability and enzyme heterozygosity in rainbow trait. Nature, 301, 71–72.
Leary, R F, Allendorf, F W, and Knudson, R L. 1984. Superior developmental stability of heterozygotes of enzyme loci in salmonid fishes. Am Nat, 124, 540–551.
Leary, R F, Allendorf, F W, and Knudson, R L. 1985. Inheritance of meristic variation and the evolution of developmental stability in rainbow trout. Evolution, 39, 308–314.
McAndrew, B J, Ward, R D, and Beardmore, J A. 1982. Lack of relationship between morphological variance and enzyme heterozygosity in the plaice, Pleuronectes platessa. Heredity, 48, 117–125.
Mitton, J B. 1978. Relationship between heterozygosity for enzyme loci and variation of morphological characters in natural populations. Nature, 273, 661–662.
Mitton, J B, and Grant, M C. 1980. Observations on the ecology and evolution of quaking aspen, Populus tremuloides, in the Colorado Front Range. Am J Bot, 67, 202–209.
Mitton, J B, and Grant, M C. 1984. Associations among protein heterozygosity, growth rate, and developmental homeostasis. Ann Rev Ecol Syst, 15, 479–499.
Noss, J F, Scott, G R, Potter, R H, and Dahlberg, A A. 1983. Fluctuating dental asymmetry in molar dimensions and discrete morphological traits in Pima Indians. Am J Phys Anthropol, 61, 437–449.
Palmer, A A, and Strobeck, C. 1986. Fluctuating asymmetry: Measurement, analysis, patterns. Ann Rev Ecol Syst, 17, 391–421.
Parsons, P A. 1990. Fluctuating asymmetry and stress intensity. TREE, 5, 97–98.
Parsons, P A. 1992. Fluctuating asymmetry: a biological monitor of environmental and genetic stress. Heredity, 68, 361–364.
Peters, R H. 1983. The Ecological Implication of Body Size. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Pierce, B A, and Mitton, J B. 1982. Allozyme heterozygosity and growth in tiger salamander, Ambystoma tigrinum. J Hered, 73, 250–253.
Quattro, J M, and Vrijenhoek, R C. 1989. Fitness differences among remnant populations of the endangered Sonoran topminnow. Science, 245, 976–978.
Sas Institute Inc. 1985. SAS User's Guide: Statistics, Version 5 Edition. SAS Institute, Cary, NC.
Singh, S M, and Zouros, E. 1978. Genetic variation associated with growth rate in the American oyster (Crassostrea virginica). Evolution, 32, 342–353.
Sokal, R R, and Rohlf, F J. 1981. Biometry, 2nd Edn. Freeman, San Francisco, CA.
Soulé, M E. 1979. Heterozygosity and developmental stability: Another look. Evolution, 33, 396–401.
Soulé, M E. 1982. Allomeric variation. 1. The theory and some consequences. Am Nat, 120, 751–764.
Soulé, M E, and Baker, B. 1968. Phenetics of natural populations.IV. The population asymmetry parameter in the butterfly Coenonympha tullia. Heredity, 23, 611–614.
Soulé, M E, and Couzin-Roudy, J. 1982. Allomeric variation. 2. Developmental instability of extreme phenotypes. Am Nat, 120, 765–786.
Werth, C R. 1985. Implementing an isozyme laboratory at a field station. Virginia Journal of Science, 36, 53–76.
Whitehurst, P H, and Pierce, B A. 1991. The relationship between allozyme variation and life-history traits of the spotted chorus frog, Pseudacris clarkii. Copeia, 1991, 1032–1039.
Whitlock, M C. 1992. None equilibrium population structure in forked fungus beetles: extinction, colonization, and the genetic variance among populations. Am Nat, 139, 952–970.
Van Valen, L. 1962. A study of fluctuating asymmetry. Evolution, 16, 125–142.
Vrijenhoek, R C, and Lerman, S. 1982. Heterozygosity and developmental stability under sexual and asexual breeding systems. Evolution, 36, 768–776.
Zink, R M, Smith, M F, and Patton, J L. 1985. Associations between heterozygosity and morphological variance. J Hered, 76, 415–420.
Zouros, E, and Foltz, D W. 1987. The use of allelic isozyme variation for the study of heterosis. In: Rattazzi, M. C, Scandalios, J. G. and Whitt, G. S. (eds) Isozymes: Current Topics in Biological and Medical Research, vol. 13, A. R. Liss, New York, pp. 1–59.
Acknowledgements
This paper has benefited greatly from the kind review of D. McCauley, B. Pierce, P. Phillips, and anonymous reviewers. I thank Mt. Lake Biological Station for the use of their facilities for the collection and Vanderbilt University for research grants and computing time.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Whitlock, M. Lack of correlation between heterozygosity and fitness in forked fungus beetles. Heredity 70, 574–581 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1993.84
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1993.84
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
The genetic signature of ecologically different grassland Lepidopterans
Biodiversity and Conservation (2013)
-
High levels of fluctuating asymmetry in isolated stickleback populations
BMC Evolutionary Biology (2012)
-
The importance of heterozygosity in a frog’s life
Naturwissenschaften (2007)
-
Ontogenetic change in relative performance of allozyme genotypes influences detection of heterosis in the earthworm Eisenia andrei
Heredity (2005)
-
Understanding the relationship between the inbreeding coefficient and multilocus heterozygosity: theoretical expectations and empirical data
Heredity (2004)