Elevated Temperature Strengthens Selection Against a Deleterious Mutation in Drosophila melanogaster
2025
Wijk, Therese
Organisms adapt at different rates depending on the amount of additive genetic variation. Environmental stress, such as elevated temperature, can influence the strength of selection by amplifying the effects of deleterious mutations. Research investigating this show varying results and theories regarding whether stress truly increases the strength of selection. Some research suggests that stress factors in general, such as dehydration and elevated temperature, increase the strength of selection by comparing the amount of inbreeding depression, while others have found that only density-dependent stress factors increase the strength of selection. This study investigated whether a major deletion in fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) has a stronger negative effect on egg-to-adult survival under thermal stress by exposing the flies to two different temperature treatments (25 °C and 28 °C). The results suggest that elevated temperature amplifies the relative fitness differences, supporting the idea that environmental stress increases the selection strength. These findings provide evidence that rising temperatures are altering the evolutionary process by strengthening the force of natural selection.
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