Eye pigments in wild-type and eye-color mutant strains of the African malaria vector Anopheles gambiae

Abstract

Chromatographic analysis of pigments extracted from wild-type eyes of the mosquito Anopheles gambiae reveals the presence of the ommatin precursor 3-hydroxykynurenine, its transamination derivative xanthurenic acid, and a dark, red-brown pigment spot that probably is composed of two or more low mobility xanthommatins. No colored or fluorescent pteridines are evident. Mosquitoes homozygous for an autosomal recessive mutation at the red-eye (r) locus have a brick-red eye color in larvae, pupae, and young adults, in contrast to the almost black color of the wild eye. Mosquitoes homozygous for this mutant allele have levels of ommochrome precursors that are indistinguishable from the wild-type, but the low-mobility xanthommatin spot is ochre-brown in color rather than red-brown as in the wild-type. Mosquitoes with two different mutant alleles at the X-linked pink-eye locus (p, which confers a pink eye color, and pw, which confers a white eye phenotype in homozygotes or hemizygous males) have normal levels of ommochrome precursors but no detectable xanthommatins. Mosquitoes homozygous for both the r and p mutant alleles have apricot-colored eyes and show no detectable xanthommatins. Both the pink-eye and red-eye mutations appear to involve defects in the transport into or assembly of pigments in the membrane-bound pigment granules rather then defects in ommochrome synthesis.