The gnd gene of Buchnera as a new, effective DNA barcode for aphid identification. (12th May 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: CHEN, RUI; JIANG, LI‐YUN; LIU, LIN; LIU, QING‐HUA; WEN, JUAN; ZHANG, RUI‐LING; LI, XING‐YI; WANG, YUAN; LEI, FU‐MIN; QIAO, GE‐XIA
• Is Part Of: Systematic entomology. Volume 38:Number 3(2013:Jul.)
• Page Start: 615
• Page End: 625
• Publication Date: 2013-05-12
• Subjects: Insects -- Classification -- Periodicals; Entomology -- Periodicals; 595.7012
• DOI: 10.1111/syen.12018
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0307-6970

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title>Abstract</title> <p>DNA barcoding uses a standard DNA sequence to facilitate species identification. Although the <italic>COI</italic> gene has been adopted as the standard, <italic>COI</italic> alone is imperfect due to several shortcomings. The primary endosymbiont of aphids, <italic>Buchnera</italic>, has higher evolutionary rates and interspecies divergence than its co‐diverging aphid hosts, making it a potential tool for resolving the ambiguities in aphid taxonomy. We compared the effectiveness of employing two different DNA regions, <italic>gnd</italic> and <italic>COI</italic>, for the discrimination of over 100 species of aphids. The mean interspecific divergence of the <italic>gnd</italic> region was significantly higher than the mean intraspecific variation; there were nearly nonoverlapping distributions between the intra‐ and interspecific samples. In contrast, <italic>COI</italic> showed a lower interspecific divergence, which led to difficulties in identifying closely related species. Our results show that <italic>gnd</italic> can identify species in the Aphididae, which suggests that the <italic>gnd</italic> region of <italic>Buchnera</italic> is a potentially effective barcode for aphid species identification. We also recommend the 2‐locus combination of <italic>gnd</italic> + <italic>COI</italic> as the aphid barcode. This will provide a universal framework for the routine use of DNA sequence data to identify specimens and contribute toward the discovery of overlooked species of aphids.</p> </abstract>