Associations between allozyme loci and gene arrangements due to hitch-hiking effects of new inversions

Abstract

This paper examines the hypothesis that the associations between alleles at allozyme loci and gene arrangements, which are observed in many Drosophila populations, result from inversions remaining associated with the alleles contained in the gametes in which they originally occurred. The effects of double crossing over in heterokaryotypes and of selection at loci linked to the allozyme loci, which are themselves assumed to be neutral, are studied theoretically. It is concluded that selection at linked loci is unlikely to have an important effect in retarding the decay of this type of association. The literature on associations between allozymes and gene arrangements is surveyed, and it is concluded that a ‘neutralist’ explanation of this sort cannot be excluded, except possibly in some cases where the allozyme locus is outside the inversion breakpoints and crosses over with measurable frequency in heterokaryotypes. © 1977, Cambridge University Press. All rights reserved.