Genetic Variation within Native Populations of Endemic Silkmoth Antheraea assamensis (Helfer) from Northeast India Indicates Need for In Situ Conservation

Abstract

A. assamensis is a phytophagous Lepidoptera from Northeast India reared on host trees of Lauraceae family for its characteristic cocoon silk. Source of these cocoons are domesticated farm stocks that crash frequently and/or wild insect populations that provide new cultures. The need to reduce dependence on wild populations for cocoons necessitates assessment of genetic diversity in cultivated and wild populations. Molecular markers based on PCR of Inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) and simple sequence repeats (SSR) were used with four populations of wild insects and eleven populations of cultivated insects. Wild populations had high genetic diversity estimates (Hi = 0.25; HS = 0.28; HE = 0.42) and at least one population contained private alleles. Both marker systems indicated that genetic variability within populations examined was significantly high. Among cultivated populations, insects of the Upper Assam region (Hi = 0.19; HS = 0.18; HE = 0) were genetically distinct (F ST = 0.38 with both marker systems) from insects of Lower Assam (Hi = 0.24; HS = 0.25; HE = 0.3). Sequencing of polymorphic amplicons suggested transposition as a mechanism for maintaining genomic diversity. Implications for conservation of native populations in the wild and preserving in-farm diversity are discussed.

High Genetic Diversity and Structured Populations of the Oriental Fruit Moth in Its Range of Origin

“…High numbers of private haplotypes existed in each of the three regions. Both these characteristics found with mitochondrial markers are again indicators of native species, especially for native species with low dispersal capacity [7], [50]. In fact, the criterion of low dispersal capacity applies also to G. molesta , which has the flight ability to move between non-contiguous orchards but not over long distances [17], [23], [51].…”

Population genetic characterization of the Japanese oak silkmoth, Antheraea yamamai (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae), using novel microsatellite markers and mitochondrial DNA gene sequences

“…An. yamamai is an important insect resource for the agricultural industry in Asia, including South Korea, but no population genetic information is available for its domestic or foreign populations (Liu et al, 2010;Pradeep et al, 2011;Singh et al, 2012). Inferring the population genetic structure of this species would be important for systematic domestication and subsequent cocoon production, along with the traditional perspectives to understand the evolutionary process of the populations.…”

Genetic diversity and differentiation ofAcanthoscelides obtectusSay (Coleoptera: Bruchidae) populations in China

“…Microsatellites are popular genetic markers because of their co‐dominance, high abundance and polymorphism rates, multi‐allelic nature, and rapid detection of the alleles by wide variety of methods (Ellegren, ; Dutta et al , ; Duan et al , ). In recent years, SSR markers have been increasingly widely used in genetic variation studies of insect populations (Behura, ), such as the genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationship analysis of biotype Q whitefly Bemisia tabaci Gennadius (Tsagkarakou et al , ), silkmoth Antheraea assamensis Helfer (Singh et al , ), fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda Smith (Pavinato et al , ) and soybean aphid Aphis glycines Matsumura populations (Jun et al , ).…”