THE WHITE GENE FROM THE YELLOW-FEVER MOSQUITO, AEDES-AEGYPTI

We report the cloning and primary characterization of both cDNA and ge nomic fragments from the white gene of the yellow fever mosquito, Aede s aegypti, Comparisons of the conceptual translation product with whit e genes from four other species within the order Diptera show that the Ae. aegypti gene is most similar to the white gene of the mosquito ve ctor of human malaria, Anopheles gambiae (86% identity and 92% similar ity). The analysis of the primary sequence of genomic DNA at the 5'-en d of the coding region revealed the presence of an intron that is also present in An. gambiae, but not in the vinegar fly, Drosophila melano gaster. The isolated clones of the Ae. aegypti white gene will enable the construction of a marker gene for use in the development of a germ line transformation system for this species.