CLONING OF CDNA FOR VITELLOGENIN OF THE PARASITOID WASP, PIMPLA-NIPPONICA (HYMENOPTERA, APOCRITA, ICHNEUMONIDAE) - VITELLOGENIN PRIMARY STRUCTURE AND EVOLUTIONARY CONSIDERATIONS

The cDNA for vitellogenin (Vg) of the parasitoid wasp Pimpla nipponica (Hymenoptera: Apocrita) was cloned and sequenced.(1) The deduced amin o acid sequence with 1807 residues was obtained, The N-terminal 20 ami no acids chemically determined for vitellin (Vn) agreed completely wit h the deduced 20 amino acids that follow the 16 amino acid residues fo r putative signal peptide, The cDNA clone for the Vg of the turnip saw fly Athalia rosae (Hymenoptera: Symphyta), previously obtained and par tially sequenced, was also completely sequenced and the amino acid seq uence deduced, Amino acid sequences were compared between these two sp ecies and also with known Vg sequences from other insects, Common to a ll these insects is the presence of two long regions with relatively w ell-conserved amino acid sequences, one near the N-terminal extending 267-282 residues (including two cysteines at conserved locations), and the other starting at position 450 to 655 and extending 279-283 resid ues, and of a region at the C-terminal extending some 200 residues (ab out 250 in Aedes aegypti due to the presence of a serine-rich stretch) with 10 cysteines at conserved locations, A molecular phylogenetic tr ee was constructed. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved .