Clinal variation in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster: An old debate about natural selection and neutral processes

Abstract Distinguishing between environmental adaptations and neutral processes poses a challenge in population genetics and evolutionary studies, particularly when phenomena can be explained by both processes. Clines are genotypic or phenotypic characters correlated with environmental variables, because of that correlation, they are used as examples of spatially varying selection. At the same time, many genotypic clines can be explained by demographic history, like isolation by distance or secondary contact zones. Clines have been extensively studied in Drosophila melanogaster, especially in North America and Australia, where they are attributed to both differential selection and various demographic processes. This review explores existing literature supporting this conclusion and suggests new approaches to better understand the influence of these processes on clines. These innovative approaches aim to shed light on the longstanding debate regarding the importance of natural selection versus neutral processes in maintaining variation in natural populations.

• Publication year

  2024

• Venue

  Genetics and Molecular Biology

• Publication date

  2024-07-22

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1590/1678-4685-GMB-2023-0348PMID 39037374PMCID 11262002
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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