Detection of Genetic Diversity among Populations of Ectomyelois ceratoniae Using RAPD Markers

Ectomyelois ceratoniae (carob moth) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) is a serious pest of stored products and fruit trees throughout the world. It is the most important pest of pomegranate, Punica granatum L., in Taif governorate, the larva of which feed inside the fruit and highly affects fruit quality. The high yield and quality of pomegranates in Taif has made it an important export commodity. Hence the objective of the present study is to investigate the genetic variation among three geographic populations of carob moth, Ectomyelois ceratoniae in Taif using the Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RAPD-PCR) technique. We estimated the genetic diversity among three carob moth populations from three different regions; North, South and middle Taif. Initially, ten primers were screened among all the populations of which five primers amplified the genomic DNA. Three primers generated reproducible and distinct RAPD profiles and were used for further analysis. RAPD profiles exhibited bands between 174 to 1432 bp in length. Average genetic distances among populations ranged from 0.1257 to 0.6657. The estimated average Gst value across all loci was 0.1974, suggesting (very) low gene flow among the different localities. The phylogenetic tree constructed by unweighted pair-group method of analysis (UPGMA) shows the North, middle and South populations, respectively, seems to be approximately as closely linked to each other from the dendrogram. The North population is more related to the middle populations. We conclude that there is a high level of genetic variation and population differentiation indicated dynamic evolution in these populations as revealed by variation at RAPD loci. This information had a significant impact on the development and delivery of the effective control program against the carob moth.