Biological Invasions (2021) 23, 1405-1423

Henrique Pozebon, Gustavo Andrade Ugalde, Guy Smagghe, Wee Tek Tay, Kamil Karut, Angel Fernando Copa Bazán, Lucas Vitorio, Roberto Peralta, Adriana Saluso, Mónica Lucía Ramírez-Paredes, María Gabriela Murúa, Jerson Vanderlei Carús Guedes and Jonas André Arnemann (2021)
Highly diverse and rapidly spreading: Melanagromyza sojae threatens the soybean belt of South America
Biological Invasions 23 (5), 1405-1423
Abstract: The soybean stem fly, Melanagromyza sojae, an Asian native insect, has successfully established in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia. These countries are among the lead global soybean producing nations, being collectively known as the soybean belt of South America. Infestation levels of M. sojae grow by the year, facilitated by the lack of efficient management strategies. Previous studies have revealed a high number of maternal lineages in M. sojae populations from Southern Brazil and Paraguay, but a comprehensive survey on genetic diversity combining samples from all countries within the South American soybean belt remains absent. We used the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase I partial gene (mtCOI) to characterize specimens of M. sojae collected in fourteen Brazilian sites and one Argentine site, and then combined our mtCOI data with previously published data from Australia, Bolivia, Paraguay, and other Brazilian sites, to investigate genetic diversity in this invasive agricultural pest species. Based on the molecular characterisation of the mtCOI gene, haplotypes Msoj-COI-01 and Msoj-COI-02 have the highest frequencies in the continent. The high genetic diversity found is evidence of introductions involving multiple female founders into the continent, and the high proportion of unique mtDNA haplotypes identified from Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia (~ 50%) suggests potential novel introductions have taken place. The findings from our study will contribute to a better understanding of M. sojae genetic diversity in South America, supporting the development of management strategies for this highly invasive pest and assisting with biosecurity preparedness of other emerging Agromyzidae flies of economic importance.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Guy Smagghe, Wee T. Tay, Kamil Karut, M. Gabriela Murua

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
surveys/sampling/distribution
molecular biology - genes

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Melanagromyza sojae	Soybean (Glycine max)	Argentina
	Melanagromyza sojae	Soybean (Glycine max)	Bolivia
	Melanagromyza sojae	Soybean (Glycine max)	Brazil (south)
	Melanagromyza sojae	Soybean (Glycine max)	Paraguay