Linkage disequilibrium over space and time in natural populations of Drosophila montana

Abstract

The previously described allelic frequencies and linkage disequilibrium among the active and null alleles of four tightly linked loci coding for the α esterases were found to be maintained by one population for 5 years, and were found to be present in two other populations which were shown to be genetically distinct from the first. It appears that enzyme variants coded by these highly polymorphic loci are being maintained in the populations by selective forces.