Linkage map organization of expressed sequence tags and sequence tagged sites in the mosquito, Aedes aegypti

A composite genetic linkage map for the yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti was constructed based on restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) markers. The map consists of 146 marker loci distributed across 205 cM, and includes several morphological mutant marker loci. Most of the genetic markers are derived from random cDNAs or Ae. aegypti genes of known function. A number of markers are derived from random genomic DNAs, including several cloned RAPD-PCR fragments, and also several cDNAs from Drosophila melanogaster. Most of the random cDNAs (80.2%) have high BlastX sequence identities to known genes, with the majority of matches to genes from D. melanogaster. Access to sequence data for all markers will facilitate their continued development for use in high-throughput SNP marker analyses and also provides additional physical anchor points for an anticipated genome sequencing effort.