Genetic relationship of Nasutitermes populations from southern Brazil (Isoptera : Termitidae)

摘要

We determined the genetic relationship of the termites Nasutitermes corniger and Nasutitermes ephratae (Isoptera: Termitidae) from two locations in Northwest Parana (upper Parana river floodplain, Porto Rico, and the city of Maringa) by electrophoresis of esterase (EST), carbonic anhydrase (CA), isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) and malate dehydrogenase (MDH) isozymes. Our results suggest a high degree of genetic variability in Nasutitermes. The variability detected for Est-5 of N. corniger from Porto Rico corresponded to 17% polymorphism. This same species, collected in Maringa, presented 41.18% polymorphism at 17 loci. N. ephratae collected in Porto Rico had nine loci analyzed, showing 22.22% polymorphism. A low heterozygosity was detected in the population of N. corniger from Porto Rico (0.07), probably related to the isolation of this population, which would cause a lower gene flow and consequently contribute to the reduction in variability. N. corniger and N. ephratae, both collected in Porto Rico (PR) presented a smaller genetic distance (0.386) than N. corniger collected in Porto Rico and N. corniger collected in Maringa (0.646). Our results suggest different origins for the populations of N. corniger, and that the population of Porto Rico presents a lower rate of dispersion and gene flow than one of Maringa, probably due to the low capacity of dispersion of the alates.