Cloning and sequence analysis of the circadian clock genes period and timeless in Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae).

The genes period (per) and timeless (tim) are core components of the circadian clock that regulates a wide range of rhythmic biochemical, physiological, and behavioral processes in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. We used degenerate polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Rapid Amplification of cDNA Ends (RACE) to clone and sequence the entire cDNAs of both the per and tim genes in Aedes albopictus (Skuse). We also used the 5' end of the Ae.

Rapid adaptive evolution of photoperiodic response during invasion and range expansion across a climatic gradient.

Abstract Understanding the mechanisms of adaptation to spatiotemporal environmental variation is a fundamental goal of evolutionary biology. This issue also has important implications for anticipating biological responses to contemporary climate warming and determining the processes by which invasive species are able to spread rapidly across broad geographic ranges. Here, we compare data from a historical study of latitudinal variation in photoperiodic response among Japanese and U.

The molecular physiology of increased egg desiccation resistance during diapause in the invasive mosquito, Aedes albopictus.

Photoperiodic diapause is a crucial adaptation to seasonal environmental variation in a wide range of arthropods, but relatively little is known regarding the molecular basis of this important trait. In temperate populations of the mosquito Aedes albopictus, exposure to short-day (SD) lengths causes the female to produce diapause eggs. Tropical populations do not undergo a photoperiodic diapause.

A transcriptional element of the diapause program in the Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, identified by suppressive subtractive hybridization.

Many temperate insects cope with the unfavorable conditions of winter by entering a photoperiodic diapause, but the molecular basis of this crucial adaptation is not well understood. In temperate populations of Aedes albopictus, exposure to short-day lengths causes the adult female to oviposit diapausing eggs. Suppressive subtractive hybridization (SSH) and quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) were performed on RNA isolated from mature (stage V) oocytes of a temperate population of Ae.