The <i>Hsp70</i> heat‐shock gene family of the mosquito <i>Anopheles albimanus</i>

Abstract

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 melanogaster Hsp70 genes. 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.