The nature of quantitative genetic variation in drosophila. II* average dominance of abdominal bristle polygenes

A comparison of 13 abdominal bristle selection lines with their base population and with reciprocal Fls between the selection lines and the base population was carried out. There was no significant directional contribution of maternally inherited factors to selection response.Different estimates of average dominance ranged from 0·28 to 0·43 with a mean of 0·39. This indicates that the alleles increasing abdominal bristle number are, on average, partly recessive. Some of the possible consequences of this are discussed.