Mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase (COI) sequence-based identification of pod borer of Thylacoptila sp. AA isolated from Senna alata (L.) Roxb. for the first time in India

Abstract

In the present study, two pod borer larvae were found to damage pods of the host plant Senna alata. As pods (seeds) are commercially important, it prompted the investigators to find out the adult of pod borer larvae by molecular sequencing and reported in this article for the first time from S. alata. Successful amplification was achieved for chloroplast DNA isolated from leaves of host plant S. alata and tissue DNA from unknown larvae and sequenced. The sequences were submitted to NCBI domain, and the taxonomic position of host plant of pod borer larvae was confirmed as S. alata (L.) Roxb. Of the two sequences belonging to pod borer larvae, specimen 1 (S1) matched with already available three sequences of Thylacoptila sp. AA. But, specimen 2 (S2) showed significant variation in its genetic distance in Neighborhood Joining tree and maximum likelihood tree; these factors imply that specimen 2 (S2) is distinct from Thylacoptila sp. AA. Therefore, it is reported that specimen 2 may be represented as Thylacoptila sp. BB where in BB indicates variant from other available sequences. Nonetheless, reporting species of Thylacoptila as insect pest in pods of S. alata is an important contribution to the annals of insect–pest–plant interaction more importantly in medicinally important plant species S. alata.

Keywords:

• Thylocoptila sp.
• Senna alata
• barcoding
• mitochondrial COI
• pod borer

Acknowledgment

We thank Prof. A. Yogamoorthi, Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Pondicherry University, for his suggestions given during the study period on the subject matter. One of the authors (SV) expresses her sincere thanks to Pondicherry University providing fellowship for Ph.D., program. We also wish to extend our heartfelt thanks to Pondicherry Centre for Biological Sciences, Puducherry for extending their laboratory facilities.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.