Levels of neutral genetic diversity in populations subdivided into two demes were studied by multi-locus stochastic simulations. The model includes deleterious mutations at loci throughout the genome, causing ‘background selection’, as well as a single locus at which a polymorphism is maintained, either by frequency-dependent selection or by local selective differences. These balanced polymorphisms induce long coalescence times at linked neutral loci, so that sequence diversity at these loci is enhanced at statistical equilibrium. We study how equilibrium neutral diversity levels are affected by the degree of population subdivision, the presence or absence of background selection, and the level of inbreeding of the population. The simulation results are compared with approximate analytical formulae, assuming the infinite sites neutral model. We discuss how balancing selection can be distinguished from local selection, by determining whether peaks of diversity in the region of the polymorphic locus are seen within or between demes. The width of such diversity peaks is shown to depend on the total species population size, rather than local deme sizes. We show that, with population subdivision, local selection enhances between-deme diversity even at neutral sites distant from the polymorphic locus, producing higher FST values than with no selection; very high values can be generated at sites close to a selected locus. Background selection also increases FST, mainly because of decreased diversity within populations, which implies that its effects may be distinguishable from those of local selection. Both effects are stronger in selfing than outcrossing populations. Linkage disequilibrium between neutral sites is generated by both balancing and local selection, especially in selfing populations, because of linkage disequilibrium between the neutral sites and the selectively maintained alleles. We discuss how these theoretical results can be related to data on genetic diversity within and between local populations of a species.

The influence of gamma-irradiation on P element excision and excision-site repair mechanisms was directly tested by embryonic somatic excision assays. Preblastoderm P[ry+, Δ2–3](99B) embryos, having a stable source of somatically active P transposase, were irradiated previous to injection with P excision indicator plasmids. Frequencies of precise or nearly precise P excision increased with gamma-ray doses ranging from 0·5 to 3·5 Gy. Higher doses resulted in frequencies close to that in unirradiated embryos, though considerable embryonic lethality was also evident at these doses. A direct positive interaction between gamma-irradiation and P element activity is concluded.

Selective genotyping, i.e. increasing the size of the population phenotyped and genotyping only individuals from the high and low tails of the population, can considerably improve the efficiency of experiments aimed at detecting and locating quantitative trait loci (QTLs) affecting a single trait. In this paper we study how selective genotyping can increase the efficiency of multitrait QTL experiments. By selecting on an index combining the variables of interest and having the maximum correlation with each variable, the efficiency of QTL detection is increased for each trait. The efficiency of selective genotyping relative to random selection strongly depends on the correlation between the index and each variable. The optimum selection rate that minimizes costs for a given experimental power depends also on this correlation and on the genotyping costs relative to phenotyping costs. When the population segregating for the quantitative traits and the markers is not as simple as a backcross or an F2 population, but is composed of several connected or unconnected families, selective genotyping can be used to improve the efficiency of the QTL study. In this case, the extreme individuals should be selected within each family. A method is provided to choose the selection rates within each family in order to optimize the global power of the experiment when the family sizes are unequal.