Cytogenetic characterization of lucilia sericata (Meigen, 1826) (diptera: calliphoridae), Bogotá-Colombia strain

Objective: Lucilia sericata is an important species for medical and forensic purposes, it is used inmaggot therapy in the treatment of chronic wounds and in medical-legal studies for establishingthe post-mortem interval and the transfer of corpses. Currently there are no records of thecytogenetic characteristics of this fly in Neotropical region. The main objective of this study wasto identify morphometric characteristics and primary structures from karyotype of L. sericatastrain Bogota, Colombia. Methods and materials: Embryonated eggs were taken, which werepreviously surface sterilized, macerated and then seeded in L-15 medium culture, supplementedwith 20% fbs and incubated at 28 ºC, without C02 atmosphere. The preparation of chromosomeswas obtained from semiconfluent monolayers, pretreated with various solutions: antimitotic (Colchicine),hypotonic (KCl 0.075 M) and fixative (Carnoy, methanol and acetic acid, 3:1). C-bandingtechnique was carried out to identify chromosomal regions of constitutive heterochromatin.Results: Morphometric parameters were obtained from each pair of chromosomes. The diploidkaryotype number obtained from cell cultures was 2n = 12; they were classified morphologically,according to patterns established previously, as follows: pairs I, II, IV and V were metacentricand pair III was submetacentric. On the other hand, the sexual pair was heteromorphic, beingX chromosome metacentric and Y chromosome submetacentric. C banding was positive for allchromosome pairs. Conclusions: The cytogenetic characteristics of L. sericata, strain Bogotá,were established according to number, shape, centromer position and heterochromatic regions.