Molecular and morphological identification of hymenoptran parasitoids from the pomegranate aphid, Aphis punicae in Razavi Khorasan province, Iran

Abstract

Parasitoids play the positive role in aphids control management by keeping the population of aphids below the economic threshold. The pomegranate aphid, Aphis punicae is attacked by several parasitoids which mostly belong to Aphidiinae subfamily. The identification of parasitoids and hyperparasitoids is problematic due to their small size and ambiguous morphological characteristics. The analysis of molecular data of DNA sequences has been suggested as a complementary approach to the classical methods to identify biocontrol agents. In the present study, active parasitoids and hyperparasitoids of the pomegranate aphid collected from Razavi Khorasan province were identified using morphological characters and analysis of two gene sequences including COI and 28S. Phylogenetic analysis was performed using Maximum parsimony and Bayesian methods. The identified parasitoids were Binodoxys angelicae, Lysiphlebus fabarum, Ephedrus persicae, and the hyperparasitoids were Syrphophagus aphidivorus, Alloxysta sp. and Pachyneuron sp. We demonstrated that the mitochondrial COI gene was superior for the identification of these insects compared to the nuclear 28S (D2- region) and that it was compatible with morphological studies. This is the first study on molecular identification of the parasitoids and hyperparasitoids on pomegranate aphids in Iran

Keywords

• Pomegranate
• parasitoids
• COI
• 28S
• aphids
• identification

Razavi Horasan (İran) bölgesinde Nar biti (Aphis punicae)'in hymenopter parazitoitlerinin moleküler ve morfolojik tanılanması

Öz

Parazitoidler yaprak bitleri populasyonunu ekonomik eşiğin altında tutarak kontrol yönetiminde olumlu bir rol oynar. Nar yaprakbiti, (Aphis punicae) çoğunlukla Aphidiinae alt familyasına ait çeşitli parazitoitler tarafından saldırıya uğramaktadır. Parazitoitleri ve hiperparazitoidlerin tanımlanması, küçük boyutları ve belirsiz morfolojik özellikleri nedeniyle sorunludur. DNA dizilerinin moleküler veri analizi, biyokontrol ajanlarını tanımlamak için klasik yöntemlere tamamlayıcı bir yaklaşım olarak önerilmiştir. Bu çalışmada, Razavi Horasan ilinden toplanan nar yaprak bitinin aktif parazitoitleri ve hiperparazitoidleri morfolojik karakterler kullanılarak ve iki gen dizisinin COI ve 28S’in analizi de dahil olmak üzere tanımlanmıştır. Filogenetik analiz maksimum parsimoni Bayesian yöntemleri kullanılarak gerçekleştirilmiştir. Tanımlanan parazitoidler Binodoxys angelicae, Lysiphlebus fabarum, Ephedrus persicae, hiperparazitoidler Syrphophagus aphidivorus, Alloxysta sp. ve Pachyneuron sp.’dir. Mitokondriyal COI geninin bu böceklerin tanımlanması için Nükleer 28S’e göre (D2 bölge) üstün olduğu ve morfolojik çalışmalar ile uyumlu olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Bu çalışma, İran'da nar yaprakbiti parazitoit ve hiperparazitoidlerinin moleküler tanımlaması açısından ilk çalışmadır

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Nar
• parazitoitler
• COI
• 28S
• afitler
• tanılama

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