State-of-the-Art in Insect Cytogenetics
A special issue of Genes (ISSN 2073-4425). This special issue belongs to the section "Cytogenomics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 November 2023) | Viewed by 13545
Special Issue Editors
Interests: insects; chromosome; heterochromatin; repetitive DNA; molecular cytogenetics; cytogenomics
Interests: insects; chromosome; heterochromatin; repetitive DNA; molecular cytogenetics; cytogenomics
Interests: insects; chromosome; heterochromatin; repetitive DNA; molecular cytogenetics; cytogenomics
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Insects represent the most wonderful and variable and numerous group of organisms that populate the Earth. Insect habitat spans the entire planet, with more than five million potentially recognized species, and most of them are cytogenetically unknown. Insects play an important role for humans as transmitters of certain diseases, as both crop pests and allies to combat pests of crops of economic interest, among other human–insect interactions. In recent years, several groups of insects have been considered as sensors of climate change, since climate change can affect their life cycles and population sizes.
Chromosomal banding and the application of molecular cytogenetics techniques (e.g., fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with specific probes, genomic in situ hybridization (GISH) or chromosome painting) to insect chromosomes have made it possible to identify specific regions on the chromosomes and analyze chromosome rearrangements and chromosome evolution. These studies have demonstrated the diversity in the function and structure of insect chromosomes, on many occasions linked to the varied and complex life cycles of insects.
Knowledge of the typical evolutionarily important characteristics of karyotypes, such as sex chromosomes, heterochromatin, supernumerary elements, number and location of rDNA genes, among others, has undergone rapid development. The joint application of the indicated techniques with next-generation sequencing (NGS) data already applied in insects is providing numerous important data on the composition and structure of insect chromosomes. The application of other new techniques can significantly increase knowledge of insect chromosomes. Among these techniques, we highlight molecular combing, designed to identify amplifications, microdeletions, and rearrangements in a DNA sequence and to study the process of DNA replication. Equally interesting are chromosome orientation FISH (CO-FISH), which makes it possible to selectively mark one of the two homologous strands of a chromosome; and Comet-FISH, a fluorescence-microscopy-based technique used to measure DNA damage and repair at the level of individual cells. Finally, the combined application of FISH with the CRISPR/Cas9 system can provide important data on the cytogenetics of insects.
For this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews addressing important questions related to these fields using standard or new molecular cytogenetic techniques are welcome.
Prof. Dr. Pedro Lorite
Prof. Dr. Teresa Palomeque
Dr. Eugenia E. Montiel
Dr. Pablo Mora
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- chromosome organization
- chromosome evolution
- chromosome composition
- heterochromatin
- fluorescence in situ hybridization
- molecular cytogenetics
- cytogenomics
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