AN ANCHORED RESTRICTION-MAPPING APPROACH APPLIED TO THE GENETIC-ANALYSIS OF THE ANOPHELES-GAMBIAE MALARIA VECTOR COMPLEX-1

We introduce here a simple approach for rapidly determining restrictio n maps for a number of regions of a genome; this involves ''anchoring' ' a map with a rare restriction site (in this case the seldom-cutting EagI) followed by partial digestion of a frequent-cutting enzyme (e.g. , Sau3A). We applied this technology to five species of the Anapheles gambiae complex. In a single Southern blot we obtained about a 15-kb r estriction map each for the mtDNA, rRNA gene, and a scnDNA region for each of five species. Phylogenetic analyses of these regions yield tre es at odds with the more traditional chromosome inversion-based trees. The value of the approach for systematic purposes is the ease with wh ich several large, independent regions of the genome can be quickly as sayed for molecular variation.