Comparative linkage maps for the mosquitoes, Aedes albopictus and Ae. aegypti, based on common RFLP loci

Abstract

Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypfi are members of the mosquito family Culicidae and share a haploid chromosome complement of three. Although a genetic linkage map based on restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), markers exists for Ae. aegypti, the extent of synteny and linkage order conservation between the two species was unknown. A comparative linkage map for Ae. albopictus was constructed based mainly on cDNA clones from Ae. aegypfi. Nearly all Ae. aegypti probes hybridized to Ae. albopictus DNA at high stringency. For eighteen RFLP markers tested, the linkage group and linear order appears to be identical for the two species. 78% of the loci tested exhibited significant deviations from the expected segregation ratio in at least one of the test crosses. An excess of heterozygote genotypes was recovered with most loci. This probably reflects the effects of lethal loci on survival of F2 progeny homozygous for the parental genotypes. These results demonstrate that comparative linkage maps based on common DNA markers provide a basis for rapidly developing linkage maps for various mosquito species, and the opportunity to examine the significance and function of orthologous quantitative trait loci associated with mosquito vector competence for disease transmission.

Quantitative trait loci determining autogeny and body size in the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus)

“…aegypti and Ae. albopictus (Severson et al, 1995), the Ae. aegypti-derived markers used in this study (see Severson et al, 2002) showed complete linear order conservation in Ae.…”

“…All of these markers were Aedes aegypti cDNA clones mapped as restriction fragment length polymorphism loci (Severson et al, 2002), including several that were previously used to construct a comparative linkage map for Ae. albopictus (Severson et al, 1995).…”

A draft genome sequence of an invasive mosquito: an ItalianAedes albopictus

“…albopictus linkage maps. 75,76 We initiated the search for the A. albopictus genes involved in sex determination using the fruit fly homologues as starting blocks. The results of this study are shown in Table S5.…”

Genetics of Mosquito Vector Competence

“…The advantage of using cDNAs as markers in a RFLP map, however, is that the genes they represent tend to be conserved in their location in the genome between different populations and species of mosquitoes (synteny); consequently, they can be used to construct usable linkage maps for other species in a relatively short time and they also serve as valuable tools to address questions of gene order within the family Culicidae. A high degree of synteny was apparent when a RFLP genetic linkage map was constructed for Aedes albopictus using A. aegypti cDNA markers (210). In addition, the prediction of whole-arm conservation of mosquito genomes (147) generally has been upheld when A. aegypti cDNA markers have been used to construct RFLP linkage maps for the mosquitoes C. pipiens (159) and Armigeres subalbatus (71).…”