DNA POLYMORPHISM IN THE ADH REGION OF DROSOPHILA-MELANOGASTER IN KOREA

The alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH; alcohol: NAD(+) oxidoreductase: EC1.1. 1.1) activity was measured and restriction mapping about the Adh regio n was performed to assess DNA polymorphism in Drosophila melanogaster populations of Korea in 24 iso-second chromosome lines: 10 lines from the Chunan population and 14 lines from the Pusan population. The mean ADH activity in Adh(F) lines was 3.5 fold higher than that of Adh(S) lines. The mean ADH activity in the Chunan population was higher than that of the Pusan population. Polymorphism due to both restriction sit e presense/absence and insertion/deletion was detected. One restrictio n site polymorphism, 2 kinds of insertions, and 3 kinds of deletions w ere observed. It was concluded that DNA polymorphism in the Adh DNA re gion is present in Korean populations of Drosophila melanogaster. The overall heterozygosity in Korean populations of Drosophila melanogaste r was 0.843. A strong linkage disequilibrium between BamHI (- 7.0) and Adh allotype and between D-2 deletion and Adh allotype was observed. This suggests that the mutation occurred in Adh alleles on a chromosom e lacking the BamHI (- 7.0).