RESUMO
Abstract Drosophila butantan sp. nov., a species belonging to the guarani group and closely related to Drosophila nigrifemur from Bolivia, is described based on a female, and some of its offspring, collected at the forest reserve of the Instituto de Biociências da Universidade de São Paulo, Cidade Universitária "Armando de Salles Oliveira", São Paulo City, state of São Paulo, Brazil. Although externally similar, the two apparently forest-dwelling species can be told apart by having distinct oviscapt valves and spermathecal introverts and tips. Accordingly, a proposal is made to also include D. nigrifemur, a previously unassigned species, in the guarani group. The two species seem to be also related to Drosophila alexandrei and Drosophila guaraja as indicated by their external morphology, their elongate spermathecae and the not so sharply pointed oviscapt valves. The karyotypes of the new species differ from those described for D. alexandrei and D. guaraja, while those of D. nigrifemur remain still unknown. Photomicrographs of the male and female imagines, in addition to drawings and photos of their terminalia, are also included.
RESUMO
Studies were carried out on the use of piggyBac transposable element as vector and the green fluorescent protein (EGFP) from the jellyfish, Aquorea victoria, as a genetic marker for the transformation of Drosophila willistoni. Preblastoderm embryos of D. willistoni white mutant were microinjected with a plasmid containing the EGFP marker and the piggyBac ITRs, together with a helper plasmid containing the piggyBac transposase placed under the control of the D. melanogaster hsp70 promoter. G0 adults transformants were recovered at a frequency of approximately 67 percent. Expression of EGFP in larvae, pupae and adults was observed up to the third generation, suggesting that this transposon was not stable in D. willistoni. Transformed individuals displayed high levels of EGFP expression during larvae and adult stages in the eye, abdomen, thorax and legs, suggesting a wide expression pattern in this species than reported to other species of Drosophilidae.
Descrevemos neste trabalho a transformação genética de Drosophila willistoni empregando o elemento transponível piggyBac como vetor e o gene EGFP (green fluorescent protein ) retirado da água-viva Aquorea victoria, como marcador de transformação. Embriões de D. willistoni em estágio pré-blastoderme, mutantes para o gene white, foram microinjetados com plasmídio contendo o marcador EGFP e as regiões ITRs do transposon piggyBac concomitantemente com um plasmídio auxiliar possuindo o gene da transposase de piggyBac sobre o controle do promotor do gene hsp70 de Drosophila melanogaster. Adultos transformantes Go foram gerados em uma taxa de 67 por cento. A expressão de GFP em larvas, pupas e adultos foi observada somente até a terceira geração, sugerindo que este transposon não é estável em D. willistoni. Os indivíduos transformados exigem um alto nível de expressão de EGFP durante os estágios de larva e, também em adultos o gene marcador é expresso nos olhos, abdome, tórax e patas, mostrando um padrão de expressão mais amplo nesta espécie do que o registrado para outros drosofilídeos.
RESUMO
Chromosomal polymorphism in natural populations of Drosophila willistoni from Uruguay and southern Brazil was investigated in order to understand the genetic characteristics and evolutionary potential of these almost geographically marginal populations. The level of chromosomal polymorphism in samples from Uruguay was higher than in those from the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The increase in the polymorphism of these populations, in which the species almost reaches its southern limit, contradicts the low level of paracentric inversion polymorphism expected under the central-marginal chromosomal polymorphism cline previously reported. The high frequency of some inversions and the presence of unique inversions in samples from Uruguay indicate the uniqueness of these populations