FISH LANDMARKS FOR AEDES-AEGYPTI CHROMOSOMES

Aedes aegypti metaphase chromosome landmarks have been developed so th at each chromosome of the haploid genome can be unambiguously identifi ed and oriented by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and digit al imaging microscopy. The FISH tags were derived from three cosmids t hat contain repetitive Ae. aegypti sequences and their unique FISH tag ging characteristics are demonstrated. The sequence of the three chrom osomal tags revealed that the chromosome 1 tag is an 18S fragment from the ribosomal cistron, and the other two chromosomal tags are repeats found in Ae. aegypfi with no apparent similarity to known sequences. A single plasmid that contains the three chromosome tag sequences has been constructed to simplify future FISH physical mapping.