There is currently no information on the genome size and complexity
in
the entomoparasitic nematodes Steinernema and
Heterorhabditis. DNA reassociation kinetics were used to determine
the
genome size and complexity in 2 species:
Steinernema carpocapsae and Heterorhabditis bacteriophora.
C0t curves derived from renaturation kinetics of denatured
DNA indicate that the genomes of these entomoparasitic rhabditids are different
both in size and complexity. Genome sizes were estimated at
2·3 × 108 bp for S. carpocapsae and
3·9 × 107 bp for H. bacteriophora and repetitive
DNA contents were found to represent 39% and 51% of these respective genomes.