Genetics, Vol 146, 717-722, Copyright © 1997

INVESTIGATIONS

Conditions for Protected Inversion Polymorphism Under Supergene Selection

G. Alvarez and C. Zapata
Departamento de Biologia Fundamental, Facultad de Biologia, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Conditions for protected inversion polymorphism under the operation of both karyotype and supergene selection in a viability model have been analytically determined. When supergene selection (the effect of recombination in homokaryotypes lowering the mean fitness of their offspring) is acting on gene arrangements and there is no karyotype selection, it is demonstrated that a polymorphic stable equilibrium is reached by the population, which is a function of only the recombination effects in homokaryotypes. Under both supergene and karyotype selection the degree of dominance (h) of karyotype selection is critical to produce a protected inversion polymorphism. In general, the opportunity for protected polymorphism increases as the degree of dominance decreases. For small s values, the conditions for protected polymorphism are r > 2sh and c > 2s(h - 1), where r and c are the average loss of viability for offspring of ST/ST and IN/IN homokaryotypes, respectively. These findings suggest that supergene selection may be an important balancing mechanism contributing to the maintenance of inversion polymorphism.

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