Mutations in the Anopheles gambiae pink-eye and white genes define distinct, tightly linked eye-color loci

• Published in: The Journal of heredity 1996-01, Vol.87 (1), p.48-53
• Main Authors: Benedict, M.Q. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Chamblee, GA.), Besansky, N.J, Chang, H, Mukabayire, O, Collins, F.H
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ANOPHELES GAMBIAE; CITOGENETICA; Color; Culicidae; CYTOGENETIQUE; Diptera; Drosophila melanogaster; Eyes & eyesight; Freshwater; GENE; GENES; GENETICA; GENETIQUE; Insects; INTERACCION DE GENES; INTERACTION GENIQUE; LOCI; LOCUS; MUTACION INDUCIDA; Mutation; MUTATION PROVOQUEE; OEIL; OJOS; PIGMENTACION; PIGMENTATION; SEXE; SEXO
• ISSN: 0022-1503; 1465-7333; 1471-8505
• DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.jhered.a022952

New eye-color mutations were induced in the mosquito Anopheles gambiae by EMS or gamma-irradiation treatments. Seven new sex-linked mutations were isolated, five of which were viable and fully fertile. Of those, three were in the previously described pink-eye (p) gene in which two spontaneous mutations have previously been identified. Two other mutations, w(1) and w(2), were in a gene with no extant mutant alleles that we designate the white gene. One of these, w(1), is due to a large deletion in the 5' end of the cloned homolog of the D. melanogaster white gene. The pink-eye and white loci are tightly linked with recombination frequencies of 3.5% and 1.1% between w(1) or w(2) and the spontaneous mutant allele, pw, respectively. Small samples of F2 larvae were examined for intragenic recombination between various alleles, but none was observed in any experiment. The white mutants, but not the pink-eye, exhibit epistasis over the expression of the larval body pigmentation phenotype collarless(+) and pigmentation of the male accessory glands and testis sheath. These pleiotropic effects are similar to those of D. melanogaster white mutants and also suggest that white is probably identical to the previously described white-eye gene