Location of X-linked polygenic effects causing sterility in male hybrids of Drosophila simulans and D. mauritiana

Abstract

There is general agreement that hybrid male sterility in Drosophila is caused by changes at several (perhaps many) factors, most of them located on the X chromosome. These factors have been generally considered as major genes, each one of them able to bring about sterility by itself. However, the evidence on this last point is not conclusive. In principle, the possibility that they correspond to located polygenic effects instead of genes with a large effect cannot be excluded. This paper shows that some of the factors that cause male sterility in D. simulans/D. mauritiana hybrids, located by recombination on the X chromosome, are indeed 'effective factors', or located polygenic effects. Some of the consequences of this finding are explored.