Enzymatic variability in natural populations of Aedes aegypti (Diptera:Culicidae) from Brazil

Yellowfever mosquitoes, Aedes aegypti (L), were collected from 3 towns located within 70 km of each other in the State of Sao Paulo to evaluate the protein variability of natural populations. Electrophoretic analysis permitted the identification of 6 loci responsible for the production of leucine aminopeptidase, 3 for esterases and malic enzyme, 2 for malate dehydrogenase, isocitrate dehydrogenase and alpha-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase, and 1 for phosphoglucomutase. For the 3 populations, the range for alleles per locus (1.63-2.03), the proportion of polymorphic loci (37.5-50.0%), and the expected mean heterozygosity (0.48-0.53) were greater than reported for other populations of A. aegypti. Although the 3 populations were similar genetically, the 1.8% differentiation was significant.