STRUCTURE, ORGANIZATION AND EXPRESSION OF 2 CLUSTERED CUTICLE PROTEINGENES DURING THE METAMORPHOSIS OF AN INSECT, TENEBRIO-MOLITOR

A 4-kb DNA segment of Tenebrio molitor (Insecta, Coleoptera) genomic D NA containing two larval-pupal cuticular genes has been cloned and seq uenced. These genes, transcribed in opposite directions, are related i n DNA sequence and the proteins encoded are very similar. Each of them contains a single intron located inside the sequence encoding the sig nal peptide, and a conserved sequence at -200 bp from the mRNA start p osition. These similarities in sequence suggest that these genes have evolved by duplication followed by diversification and that they are m embers of a family of genes with a common ancestry. They are the first example of clustered genes in Tenebrio molitor.