RANDOM-AMPLIFIED POLYMORPHIC DNA AS A TOOL FOR DIFFERENTIATING HOUSE-FLY STRAINS

The conventional methods of identifying insecticide resistance in a su spect pest population by assessing the LD50 are laborious and time-con suming. Random-amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) has been used by other groups to differentiate species of mosquitoes as well as populations within a mosquito species. Using different arbitrary oligonucleotides as primers with RAPD, we have demonstrated that various strains of Mus ca domestica L. show different patterns of DNA fragments on agarose el ectrophoresis. The unique DNA fragments could possibly be used for dev eloping probes that can be used to detect insecticide resistance in fi eld populations.