Interracial rDNA variation in the grasshopper Podisma Pedestris

The structural basis and distribution of variation in the ribosomal RNA multigene family ( rDNA) was studied in the X0 and neo-XY races of the Alpine grasshopper Podisma pedestris. Restriction-enzyme sites in the gene region of the rDNA repeat were identical in both races and homogeneous in the rDNA family. In contrast, sites for Hind111 and PvuII in the intergenic spacer (IGS) region showed racial divergence and variation within the rDNA family and within populations. A short insertion in the 28s gene region was present in a minority of repeats in both races. The distributions of four polymorphic IGS Hind111 fragments were surveyed at 43 locations in and around the hybrid zone. Two of these fragments appear to be distributed as clines, one of which is strongly associated with the neo-X chromosome. The other two fragments show considerable variation in both races and show negative association. It is proposed that the clinally distributed variants arise from processes of amplification and divergence of IGS sequence variants and that such divergence may contribute to hybrid inviability.