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Biochemical Genetics (v.36, #7-8)

Electrophoretic Polymorphisms and Their Taxonomic Implications in Callitrichini (Primates, Platyrrhini) by C. M. Meireles; J. Czelusniak; I. Sampaio; H. Schneider; S. F. Ferrari; A. F. Coimbra-Filho; A. Pissinatti; J. A. P. C. Muniz; H. S. Ferreira; M. P. C. Schneider (pp. 229-244).

Five hundred forty-three blood samples from 15populations of the four genera of callitrichin primateswere studied electrophoretically. Polymorphism andgenetic distances were estimated for 20 loci, 13 of which were polymorphic. The lion tamarin(Leontopithecus) studied here exhibited theleast variability for these loci, while the monospecificCebuella showed the most. The genetic distancesobserved between Callithrix andCebuella genera support previous evidenceindicating a close taxonomic relationship between them.Genetic distance values obtained in this study alsosupport the synonimization of the kuhli form with Callithrix jacchuspenicillata.

Keywords: MARMOSETS; TAMARINS; CALLITRICHINI; POLYMORPHISM; GENETIC DISTANCE; GENETIC VARIABILITY

Genetic Heterogeneity in the Indian Mus musculus by M. Awasthi; K. V. Bhat; R. K. Anand (pp. 245-258).

This study deals with the characterization of 10populations of M. musculus from differentgeographical locations in India. The genetics of Indianwild mice has been completely obscure and this is thefirst report on allozyme variations in the naturalpopulation. We have used a set of 24 biochemical geneticmarkers to measure levels of diversity within and amongpopulations. The allelic frequency data indicate extreme genetic variability, which is furtherenhanced by the presence of novel alleles. Overall thespecies shows a high level of heterogenity. The highlypolymorphic central populations of M. musculus cannot be assigned to any one particularsubspecies. The allelic profiles, however, indicate agradual differentiation toward the castaneus andbatcrianus subspecies lineages.

Keywords: MUS MUSCULUS ; ALLOZYME; HETEROGENEITY; DIVERSITY; POLYMORPHISM

Biochemical Differences Between Products of the ADH Locus in Olive Fruit Fly (Bactrocera oleae) by Vasiliki Mazi; Nikos Cosmidis; Michael Loukas; Yannis Clonis; Eleftherios Zouros (pp. 259-269).

Purified alcohol dehydrogenases from olive fruitflies of genotypes SS, II, and SI were biochemicallycompared. The enzymes were found to differ in thespecific activity, in the influence of pH andtemperature on activity, and in the affinity with differentsubstrate-alcohols. The probable relationships of thesefindings with the dramatic changes in allele frequenciesobserved when natural populations are introduced in the laboratory are discussed.

Keywords: OLIVE FRUIT FLY; ADH PURIFICATION; ENZYME ACTIVITY

Functional Nonequivalence of Drosophila Actin Isoforms by Eric A. Fyrberg; Christine C. Fyrberg; Joseph R. Biggs; Donna Saville; Clifford J. Beall; Andrew Ketchum (pp. 271-287).

We show that different Drosophila actinisoforms are not interchangeable. We sequenced the sixgenes that encode conventional Drosophilaactins and found that they specify amino acidreplacements in 27 of 376 positions. To test the significance ofthese changes we used directed mutagenesis to introduce10 such conversions, independently, into the Act88Fflight muscle-specific actin gene. We challenged these variant actins to replace the nativeprotein by transforming germline chromosomes of aDrosophila strain lacking flight muscle actin.Only one of the 10 reproducibly perturbed myofibrillarfunction, demonstrating that most isoform-specific aminoacid replacements are of minor significance. In order toestablish the consequences of multiple amino acidreplacements, we substituted portions of theDrosophila Act88F actin gene with correspondingregions of genes encoding other isoforms. Only one offive constructs tested engendered normally functioningflight muscles, and the severity of myofibrillar defects correlated with the number of replacementswithin the chimeric genes. Finally, we completelyconverted the flight muscle actin-encoding gene to onespecifying a nonmuscle isoform, a change entailing atotal of 18 amino acid replacements. Transformationof flies with this construct resulted in disruption offlight muscle structure and function. We conclude thatactin isoform sequences are not equivalent and that effects of the amino acid replacements,while minor individually, collectively confer uniqueproperties.

Keywords: ACTIN; PROTEIN ISOFORMS; DROSOPHILA DEVELOPMENT; MUSCLE DIVERGENCE; GENE EXPRESSION

Genetic Variation and Phylogenetic Relationships Among Six Populations of Corn Borers in China by Maolei Xu; Shan Sun; Rongjiang Wang; Shaowen Li (pp. 289-297).

The genetic variation among and within sixpopulations of the corn borer was determined by usingrandom amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers.Extensive genetic variability was detected. Of the 802RAPD markers obtained, 781 (97.4%) were polymorphicamong populations. Genetic similarities and distancesbetween each pair of individuals were calculated. UPGMAcluster analysis showed that the YN population (Ostrinia nubilalis Hubner) and the other fivepopulations (Ostrinia furnacalis Guenee) made upbranches of the corn borer lineage, instead ofdeviating; there was no significant geneticdifferentiation between YN and the other five corn borerpopulations.

Keywords: CORN BORER; GENETIC DISTANCE; GENETIC SIMILARITY; RANDOM AMPLIFIED POLYMORPHIC DNA

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