Implications of locus specific microevolution inferred by genetic distances between two local populations of Drosophila melanogaster from Turkey

The standard genetic distances were calculated with 3 allozyme loci in 2 local populations of Drosophila melanogaster from Turkey. One of the distances, i.e. obtained with alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh), was completely different from the distances with the other 2 allozyme loci, glycerophosphate dehydrogenase (αGpdh) and cytosolic malate dehydrogenase (Mdh1), leading to a statistically significant inflation in the cumulated distance value obtained over the 3 loci. It is shown that this final significant value was caused by the significant difference in allelic frequencies at the Adh loci across local populations. Implications of the different genetic distances in 2 local populations are discussed, especially with respect to putative selection pressures more stressed on the Adh than on the other 2 allozyme loci.