Mirror Repeats in Pheromone Detecting Gustatory Receptor Gene Gr37 of Aedes aegypti

Mirror repeats (MRs), the repetitive DNA sequences, known to accumulate variations in the gene or genome, are important tools for evolutionary, taxonomic, and vector ecology-oriented research. Present study is first of its kind to identify MRs in the pheromone detecting gustatory receptor gene, Gr37 of yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti (Linn.). Overall, 39 mirror repeats were retrieved from the complete gene sequence (1454 bp) using nucleotide BLAST. Of these, 8 MRs were categorized as Perfect Mirror Repeat (PMR), 6 as Imperfect Mirror Repeat (IMR) and remaining (25 MRs) as Perfect Mirror Repeat with Single Spacer (PMR-SS). The various gene fragments namely, exon-1 (842 bp), exon-2 (461 bp), intron (151 bp), mRNA (1326 bp) and coding DNA sequence (CDS) (945 bp) possessed 24, 7, 8, 31 and 26 MRs, respectively. Distribution studies using megaBLAST revealed the presence of three MRs viz. TTTAATATAATTT, ATAGTGTGATA and TTTCACCCACATT within the genome of most of the mosquito species except Anopheles culicifacies Giles.