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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fargo, North Dakota » Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center » Insect Genetics and Biochemistry Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #272091
Title: Geographically based diversity in mitochondrial DNA of North American Lygus lineolaris (Hemiptera: Miridae)

Author
item BURANGE, PRASAD - Punjab Agricultural University
item Roehrdanz, Richard
item BOETEL, MARK - North Dakota State University

Submitted to: Annals of the Entomological Society of America
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/10/2012
Publication Date: 11/1/2012
Citation: Burange, P.S., Roehrdanz, R.L., Boetel, M.A. 2012. Geographically based diversity in mitochondrial DNA of North American Lygus lineolaris (Hemiptera: Miridae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 105(6):917-929.

Interpretive Summary: The tarnished plant bug (Lygus) is a widespread pest insect capable of feeding on most crops other than grains. It is also found on a wide variety of native species that are not of Agricultural importance. Insects that are widely distributed both geographically and across host plant species may acquire genetic differences that are associated with their location or favorite food. DNA markers in the tarnished plant bug revealed some differences linked to geography but no differences with respect to host plant choice. So there is no evidence that the tarnished plant bug is developing special strains that are targeting individual crops. The DNA markers will also be useful for distinguishing the tarnished plant bug from other look-alike species of Lygus.

Technical Abstract: The tarnished plant bug, Lygus lineolaris (Palisot de Beauvois), is a highly polyphagous insect pest. It is the most widely distributed Lygus species in North America, and it is the most prevalent member of the genus Lygus in the eastern half of the continent. We sampled multiple populations of L. lineolaris from three disparate regions of North America, and used parts of the mitochondrial genes cytochrome oxidase 1 and cytochrome oxidase 2 (i.e., cox1 and cox2, respectively) as markers to assess intraspecific diversity of this species. Results indicated that there is an association between genetic population structure and geography. Neighbor-joining, maximum parsimony, Bayesian inference analysis, and maximum likelihood trees suggested that most L. lineolaris individuals belong to two closely related clades showing sympatric distribution. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotypes common to widely dispersed populations were observed. Morphological identities of five L. lineolaris samples that formed an outlier clade indicated incongruence between morphological identity and genetic data. Individuals from the two major clades and one disparate clade did not exhibit recognizable morphological differences. No strong host plant associations were observed among clades, thus, genetic structuring in this species appears to mostly be geographically based. This study represents the first attempt to survey cox1 and cox2 variation within L. lineolaris and to use those genes to construct a molecular phylogeny for this species.