Outbreeding causes developmental instability in Drosophila subobscura

Abstract

A possible effect of interpopulation hybridization is either outbreeding depression, as a consequence of breakdown of coadapted gene complexes which can increase developmental instability (DI) of the traits, or increased heterozygosity, which can reduce DI. One of the principal methods commonly used to estimate DI is the variability of fluctuating asymmetry (FA). We analysed the effect of interpopulation hybridization in Drosophila subobscura through the variability in the wing size and the FA of wing length and width for both sexes in parental, F1 and F2 generations. The results of the wing size per se in intra- and interpopulation hybrids of D. subobscura do not explicitly reveal the significance of either of the two hypotheses. However, the results of the FA of the wing traits give a different insight. The FA of wing length and width generally increases in interpopulation crosses in F1 with respect to the FA in the parental generation, which suggests the possibility that outbreeding depression occurred in the first generation after the hybridization event. We generally observed that the FA values for the wing length and width of interpopulation hybrids were higher in F1 and F2 generations, compared to intrapopulation hybrids in same generations. These results suggest that the association between coadaptive genes with the same evolutionary history are the most probable mechanism that maintains the developmental homeostasis in Drosophila subobscura populations.