Genetic variability of populations of Earias vittella (Fab.) (Noctuidae: Lepidoptera) as revealed by Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA

ABSTRACT

Ten populations of Earias vittella collected from different localities of Tamilnadu, India from the bhendi crop were subjected to RAPD analysis to study the genetic variability. Twenty random decameric primers were used, out of which, two primers – OPA07 and OPA12 – produced clear, consistent and reproducible RAPD bands for all the populations.  Each primer produces a species-specific RAPD marker with the molecular weight of 1422bp (OPA07) and 615bp (OPA12). The UPGMA based dendrogram analysis grouped all the populations of E. vittella in two major clusters and the similarity coefficient values ranged from 0.27 to 0.90.   The RAPD profiles of populations of E. vittella based on banding pattern, UPGMA analysis and genetic similarity index revealed genetic polymorphisms among the populations.

Keywords: Earias vittella, RAPD, DNA marker, Genetic variability, Dendrogram, Similarity Index

REFERENCES

1. Arif, M.I. and Attique, M.R. 1990. Alternative hosts in carryover of Earias insulana (Boisd.) and Earias vittella (F.) in Punjab, Pakistan. The Pak. Cotton. 34: 91-96.
2. Black, W.C.I.V., Baer, C.F., Antolin, M.F. and Duteau, N.M. 2001.  Population genomics:  genome-wide sampling of insect populations.  Annu. Rev. Entomol. 46: 441-469.
3. Haymer, D. S. 1994. Arbitrary (RAPD) primer sequences used in insect studies. Insect Mol. Biol. 3: 191-194.
4. Kumar, L.S., Sawant, S.A., Gupta, V.S. and Ranjekar, P.K. 2001.  Genetic variation in Indian populations of Scirpophaga incertulas as revealed by RAPD-PCR analysis. Biochem. Genet. 39: 43-47.
5. Nei, M. 1978.  Estimation of average heterozygosity and genetic distance from a small number of individuals. Genetics. 89: 583-590.
6. Sambrook, J., Fritsch, E.F. and Maniatis, T. 1989. Molecular cloning: a laboratory manual, 2nd ed. Cold spring harbor laboratory press, cold spring harbor, New York.
7. Sambrook, J. and Russell D.W. 2001. Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual. 3rd Ed. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, New York. pp. 1723–1726.
8. Welsh, J. and McClelland. 1990.  Fingerprinting genomes using PCR with arbitrary primers.  Nucleic Acids Res. 18: 7213-7218.
9. Williams, J.G.K., Kubelik, A.R., Livak, K.J., Rafalski, J.A. and Tingey, S.V. 1990. DNA polymorphisms amplified by arbitrary primers are useful as genetic markers. Nucleic Acids Res. 18: 6531-6535.