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Interspecific hybridization and genetic variability of Phlebotomus sandflies
Author(s) -
Ghosh K. N.,
Mukhopadhyay J. M.,
Guzman H.,
Tesh R. B.,
Munstermann L. E.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
medical and veterinary entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.028
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1365-2915
pISSN - 0269-283X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2915.1999.00140.x
Subject(s) - biology , phlebotomus , interspecific hybridization , interspecific competition , evolutionary biology , zoology , ecology , leishmania , botany , hybrid , parasite hosting , world wide web , computer science
Summary The first successful hybridization is reported between Phlebotomus papatasi and P. duboscqi , two important Old World sandfly vectors of leishmaniasis and other diseases. Laboratory strains of P. papatasi and P. duboscqi were separable by six diagnostic enzyme loci: Est‐3 , Idh‐1 , Mdh‐2 , Mpi , Tre‐1 and Tre‐3 . Hybrids between the two species were verified by the recovery of heterozygous isozyme patterns for the diagnostic loci. No F 2 or backcross progeny were obtained . P. papatasi was separated from P. bergeroti by three diagnostic enzyme loci: Est‐3 , Mpi and Pgd . The isozyme patterns of P. bergeroti contain elements of both P. duboscqi and P. papatasi , although seven diagnostic loci ( Est‐3, Idh‐1, Me, Mpi, Pgd, Tre‐1 and Tre‐3 ) separated P. bergeroti from P. duboscqi . Genetic variability profiles of the three species were established for 20 enzyme loci. Three geographically distant strains of P. papatasi from Calcutta, Maharashtra and Israel had isozyme genetic distances of < 0.05. The recently established Calcutta strain showed an unexpectedly low genetic variability with only one ( Idh‐2 ) of 20 loci being polymorphic (average heterozygosity of 1.9%) in contrast to 5–8 polymorphic loci (10–12% heterozygosity) in the Maharashtra and Israel strains. Mass and single pair crosses between the three P. papatasi strains were fertile with normal progeny numbers. Thus we found no signs of speciation in P. papatasi .