COMPARATIVE-ANALYSIS OF THE PROTEINS IN T HE SECRETION OF LARVAL SALIVARY-GLANDS IN THE TRIBE CHIRONOMINI (DIPTERA, CHIRONOMIDAE)

The electrophoretic patterns of the proteins from the secretion of sal ivary glands of the larvae of 19 species (5 genera) of the tribe Chiro nomini differing in ecology, behavior and phylogenetic relationships w ere compared. Some characteristics of the secretion were found to be c ommon to all the studied species, hence they are not dependent on the ecology, behavior and taxonomic stale of chironomids. These characters are: the occurence of the secretion in the salivary glands of larvae, the numerical set of the proteins in the secretion, the. range of the sizes of these proteins and the quantitative predomination of giant p roteins (GSP-group) in the secretion. On the contrary, MSP-I and MSP-I I groups of proteins have significant intergeneric differences. The el ectrophoretic pattern, the size and the variability of the proteins in these two groups are specific to each of the genera of the tribe Chir onomini and can be used as biochemical markers under the diagnostics o f the larvae from these genera.