Research article

GENETIC VARIATION AND PHYLOGENETIC STUDY OF CORN GROUND BEETLE, ZABRUS TENEBRIOIDES IN ERBIL PROVINCE-IRAQ

Srwa M. Khalil* and Sahand K. Khidr

Online First: January 20, 2023


In northern of Iraq, the corn ground beetle (Zabrus tenebrioides Goeze) is one of the most significant pests of wheat and the soil-dwelling larvae are the most destructive stage of this pest. The present study aimed to identify this pest using molecular diagnostic PCR and sequence analysis to investigate the genetic variation using a genotype DNA template of the species from twenty localities and two host plants. Further, a comparison study was carried out to examine the relationship between the obtained sequences and sequences recorded worldwide. The results confirmed the identity of the species via the designed species-specific primers. Twenty sequences of the mitochondrial COI gene of Iraqi samples (ON623787- ON623806) were deposited for the first time in the National Center of Biotechnology Information (NCBI). The phylogenetic analysis exhibited diversity in the acquired sequences in accordance with geographical locations as well as the type of diet with an average base substitution of the sequences with the almost equal transition to transversion ratio. The establishment of various clades indicates cluster populations depending on geographic isolation and host plant. The sequences comparison of Iraqi sample genes with worldwide genes exhibited that the Turkish sequence (MN 343842) clustered together with the twenty samples acquired in the study in one clade while the other sequences from other countries clustered together with the exception of Spain (AY551899) which formed one single taxon as an outgroup thus revealing distant relationship with all other sequences.

Keywords

Wheat crop, Transition, DNA extraction, COI gene, sequence alignment