Symposium: Genetics in Entomology: Interspecific Variation in the Abundance of Highly Repeated DNA Sequences in the Aedes scutellaris (Diptera: Culicidae) Subgroup

Abstract

Abundance of nine cloned, highly repeated sequences isolated from Aedes malayensis Colless varies greatly among six sibling species of the A. scutellaris Edwards subgroup. Abundance is only weakly associated with genome size, which varies over 2-fold in the species examined. Similarities among species in abundance of these repeated sequences are not associated with known systematic affinities. Two species, A. alcasidi Huang and A. hebrideus Edwards, have been isolated for a relatively long time and are similar in repeat sequence abundance profiles. The similarity suggests selective constraint of repeat sequence abundance under some circumstances. Until more is known of both the selective pressures affecting genome evolution and the ability of the genome to respond to selection pressure, systematic inferences cannot be readily derived from examination of evolutionary labile components of the genome.