Karyotypic structure and evolution among Cercopidae splitebug species (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha) based in the analysis of repetitive DNAs

Abstract

Among Hemiptera, the splittebugs that belongs to the Family Cercopidae, are represented by about 1500 species and 150 genera of sap-sucking insects widely distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions. These animals are remarkable due their economic importance, causing damage in the agriculture and livestock. Although their economic importance, few information are available concerning the genetic variability, including chromosomal variability, that presents holokinetic chromosomes. The use of repetitive DNAs as chromosomal markers is a useful tool in the analysis focusing karyotype diversification, genome structure and evolution studies, due their abundance in the eukaryotic genomes. So, the objective of this work is understand the evolutionary processes that acted in the chromosomal diversification of insects from Cercopidae family, based in the analysis of structure and molecular composition of their karyotypes. For this propose classical and molecular chromosomal analysis, such as karyotype descriptions, analysis concerning heterochromatin and isolation/mapping through FISH (fluorescent in situ hybridization) using repetitive DNAs as markers will be used in distinct representatives belonging to distinct genera from Cercopidae Family. Moreover, a population chromosomal analysis in the species Mahanarva spectabillis, a common plague in pastures, will be performed by association of chromosomal and molecular markers. These data will permit the advance in the knowledge of chromosomal variability in Cercopidae and the possible role of repetitive DNAs in the chromosomal diversification in the group, as the impact of this DNA fraction in the structure/evolution of the holokinetic chromosomes, still little studied in animals. (AU)