Augenfarbmutationen bei der Stechmücke Culex pipiens L. — ihre chemische und genetische Ursache / Genetics and Chemistry of Eye Colour Mutations of the Mosquito Culex pipiens L.

Abstract

Investigations were made at the wild type and three eye colour mutants of the mosquito Culex pipiens L. The mutants are: “rot” (“r”, red eyes, sex linked, recessive), “weiss” (“w”, white eyes, sex linked, recessive), “ruby” (“ru” dark-red eyes, autosomal, recessive). By mendelian crossings, it could be shown, that “weiss” is epistatic over “ruby” and “rot”, “rot” is epistatic over “ruby”. “rot” and “weiss” are cell-autonomous mutants. In the wild type, two main substances could be identified. One seems to be an ommochrome, the other one a pterin (sepiapterin 1). The most important component is the ommochrome. In the eyes of “rot” animals the same two main substances could be identified, but there are obviously quantitative differences. More ommochrome and less pterin is formed. In the eyes of “weiss” animals no colour substances or their precursors could be detected. Only the eye pigments of the mutant “ruby” of Culex seem to be analogous to the mutant “brown” of Drosophila, both showing the same paperchromatographical pattern and the same spectrophotometric behaviour.