MITOCHONDRIAL-DNA RESTRICTION FRAGMENT VARIATION AND BIOSYSTEMATICS OF THE BOLL-WEEVIL, ANTHONOMUS-GRANDIS

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) restriction fragment patterns were compared among four laboratory colonies of the boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis Boheman. The four colonies have diverse geographic and host plant origins; they include a southeastern USA weevil from cultivated cotton, a Mexican weevil from Hampea nutricia Fryxell, a weevil from wild Gossypium thurberi Todaro cotton in Arizona, and a weevil from cultivated cotton in El Salvador. The boll weevil mtDNA is about 19 kb. Ten of sixteen restriction enzymes employed produced polymorphic fragment patterns. Comparisons of sequence divergence among the colonies suggests that the "thurberia" and El Salvador weevils are similar and that the southeastern weevil is equally divergent from the other three colonies. The observed mtDNA variation among these lines shows that this approach may be suitable for more detailed molecular genetic analysis of the origin and dispersal of the boll weevil.