J. A. Seawright

The Hsp70 heat‐shock gene family of the mosquito Anopheles albimanus

Four Hsp70 genes of the malaria vector Anopheles albimanus were isolated from a genomic DNA library as two non‐overlapping clones each containing a pair of divergently transcribed genes having 75% DNA sequence similarity to the protein‐coding regions of the Drosophila metanogaster Hsp70genes. The clones were assigned to two loci on chromosome 2R by in situ hybridization. These clones hybridize strongly to heat‐shock but only weakly to non‐shocked mosquito RNA. The Hsp70 gene family of A. albimanus is undergoing concerted evolution probably by gene conversion. The general arrangement of the genes suggests that divergently transcribed pairs of genes at two loci is an ancient Dipteran arrangement predating the Nematocera/Cyclorrapha divergence.

Homozygous translocations in Anopheles albimanus

SummaryFour homozygous, autosomal translocation stocks were established in Anopheles albimanus, which is an important vector of malaria in Central America. When inbred, the fertility of these homozygous translocation stocks ranged from 87.4 to 92.5%, and similar fertilities were observed in outcrosses to a normal strain. The chromosomal breakpoints for these four translocations were located close to the centromeres. The sterility in heterozygous translocation males was consistently higher than that observed for females.

Chromosome-linkage group correlation in Anopheles quadrimaculatus (Say)

Brown body (bw) is a recessive, autosomal mutant in Anopheles quadrimaculatus (Say). Independent linkage was noted between stripe (st+) and bw, and an epistatic interaction was noted for the altered expression of st+ in bw homozygotes. Reciprocal autosomal translocations and a Y-autosome translocation were used to assign bw to the left arm of chromosome 2 and st+ to the right arm of chromosome 3.