Abstract
To elucidate the forees maintaining protein polymorphisms, microgeographic differentiation in proteins, encoded by 30 loci, was tested in 285 individuals comprising 3 species of landsnails in Israel. Each test consisted of 2 close subpopulations: one from the drier and warmer south-facing slope and the other from the opposite wetter and cooler north-facing slope. The 5 tests involved 2 of Buliminus labrosus in Mediterranean Count Carmel; 1 of Sphincterochila zonata in the northern, and 2 of S. prophetarum in the central Negev desert. The results indicate significant allele differences between the two slopes in several loci in each of the 5 local tests, involving primarily esterases (Est), aspartate aminotransferase (Aat) and leucine amino peptidases (Lap). The differential slope patterns appear to be adaptive, and are presumably maintained by microclimatic diversifying selection.
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Nevo, E., Bar-El, C., Beiles, A. et al. Adaptive microgeographic differentiation of allozyme polymorphism in landsnails. Genetica 59, 61–67 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00130815
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00130815