Serap Tutgun Onrat,  Ferruh Axçi, Muhlis Özkan
Published June 8, 2006
Genet. Mol. Res. 5 (2): 342-349 (2006)

About the authors
Serap Tutgun Onrat,  Ferruh Axçi, Muhlis Özkan

Corresponding author
S.T. Onrat
E-mail: tutgunonrat@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

The karyotypes of water mites (Acari: Hydrachnellae:Hydrodromidae) are largely unknown. The present investigation is the first report of a study designed to characterize the chromosomes of water mites. The study was carried out with specimens of Hydrodroma despiciens collected from Eber Lake in Afyon, Turkey. Several  different methods were tried to obtain chromosomes of this species. However, somatic cell culture proved to be the most effective for the preparation of chromosomes. In the present study, we determined the diploid chromosome number of Hydrodroma despiciens to be 2n = 16. However, a large metacentric chromosome was fund in each metaphase which we believed to be the X chromosome. We could not determine the sex chromosomes of this species. This study is the first approach to the cytogenetic characterization of this water mite group. Furthermore, these cytogenetic data will contribute to the understanding of the phylo A cytogenetics study of Hydrodroma despiciens 343 genetic relationship among water mites. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the cytogenetics of water mites.

Key words: Chromosomes, Hydrodroma despiciens, Hydrachnellae, Acari.