Tandem Repeat DNA Provides Many Cytological Markers for Hybrid Zone Analysis in Two Subspecies of the Grasshopper Chorthippus parallelus Navarro Domínguez, Beatriz María Cabrero Hurtado, Josefa López León, María Dolores Martínez Camacho, Juan Pedro Chorthippus parallelus Hybrid zone Repetitive DNA Tandem repeats FISH Recent advances in next generation sequencing (NGS) have greatly increased our understanding of non-coding tandem repeat (TR) DNA. Here we show how TR DNA can be useful for the study of hybrid zones (HZ), as it serves as a marker to identify introgression in areas where two biological entities come in contact. We used Illumina libraries to analyse two subspecies of the grasshopper Chorthippus parallelus, which currently form a HZ in the Pyrenees. We retrieved a total of 152 TR sequences, and used fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) to map 77 families in purebred individuals from both subspecies. Our analysis revealed 50 TR families that could serve as markers for analysis of this HZ, using FISH. Differential TR bands were unevenly distributed between chromosomes and subspecies. Some of these TR families yielded FISH bands in only one of the subspecies, suggesting the amplification of these TR families after the geographic separation of the subspecies in the Pleistocene. Our cytological analysis of two TR markers along a transect of the Pyrenean hybrid zone showed asymmetrical introgression of one subspecies into the other, consistent with previous findings using other markers. These results demonstrate the reliability of TR-band markers for hybrid zone studies. 2023-03-28T06:46:16Z 2023-03-28T06:46:16Z 2023-02-03 journal article Navarro-Domínguez, B... [et al.]. Tandem Repeat DNA Provides Many Cytological Markers for Hybrid Zone Analysis in Two Subspecies of the Grasshopper Chorthippus parallelus. Genes 2023, 14, 397. [https://doi.org/10.3390/genes14020397] https://hdl.handle.net/10481/80883 10.3390/genes14020397 eng info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/875732 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ open access Atribución 4.0 Internacional MDPI