Developing conversed microsatellite markers and their implications in evolutionary analysis of the Bemisia tabaci complex

Abstract

The study of population genetics among the Bemisia tabaci complex is limited due to the lack of conserved molecular markers. In this study, 358, 433 and 322 new polynucleotide microsatellites are separately identified from the transcriptome sequences of three cryptic species of the B. tabaci complex. The cross species transferability of 57 microsatellites was then experimentally validated. The results indicate that these markers are conserved and have high inter-taxon transferability. Thirteen markers were employed to assess the genetic relationships among six cryptic species of the B. tabaci complex. To our surprise, the inferred phylogeny was consistent with that of mitochondrial COI sequences, indicating that microsatellites have the potential to distinguish species of the B. tabaci complex. Our results demonstrate that development of microsatellites from transcriptome data is a fast and cost-effective approach. These markers can be used to analyze the population genetics and evolutionary patterns of the B. tabaci complex.

Genetic differentiation of the regional Plutella xylostella populations across the Taiwan Strait based on identification of microsatellite markers

“…P. xylostella is an insect pest with high fecundity and short developmental duration (up to 19 generations per year in Fujian and Taiwan (You and Wei 2007)), which may contribute to this higher population genetic diversity compared with other insect species (Kim et al 2008;Jing et al 2012). However, compared with other studies analyzing P. xylostella population using genomic SSR loci (Endersby et al 2006;Wei et al 2013), our results show low diversity, possibly due to the conservativeness of the SSR markers isolated from the transcriptome (Kim et al 2008;Wang et al 2014).…”

Cassava whitefly,Bemisia tabaci(Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) in East African farming landscapes: a review of the factors determining abundance

“…However, the identification of the species involved in these outbreaks based on genetic differences has only recently been attempted (see example from Kenya in Manani et al , 2017). Due to morphological similarities, B. tabaci was originally thought to be one species worldwide, but based on genetic differences (Colvin et al , 2004; Sseruwagi et al , 2005; Boykin et al , 2007; 2013; Wang et al , 2014); and mating incompatibility (Colvin et al , 2004; Xu et al , 2010; Liu et al , 2012), it is now recognized as a species complex with at least 34–36 species (Boykin et al , 2012; Barbosa et al , 2015). This discovery of further species diversity has led to many nomenclatural changes over the last 10 years causing confusion in the literature (Boykin & De Barro, 2014; Boykin et al, 2018).…”

Portieragives new clues on the evolutionary history of whiteflies

“…The "puparium" stage presents phenotypic plasticity with phenotypes affected both by the identity of the host plants and different abiotic factors (Manzari and Quicke, 2006;Martin and Mound, 2007). Also, most of the phylogenetic research so far has focused on relatively few species with significant economic impacts, such as the B. tabaci species complex (Brown et al, 1995;Frohlich et al, 1999;Boykin et al, 2007;De Barro et al, 2011;Lee et al, 2013;Hsieh et al, 2014;Wang et al, 2014). To the best of our knowledge, only four published studies have tried to establish broad phylogenetic relationships among the different whitefly genera.…”