Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata (2010) 134, 191-199

Jabraeil Razmjou, Christoph Vorburger, Saeid Moharramipour, Seyed Ziaeddin Mirhoseini and Yaghoub Fathipour (2010)
Host-associated differentiation and evidence for sexual reproduction in Iranian populations of the cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii
Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 134 (2), 191-199
Abstract: Phytophagous insects with wide host ranges often exhibit host-associated genetic structure. We used microsatellite analysis to assess the population structure of the cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii Glover (Hemiptera: Aphididae), a serious pest on many economically important crops worldwide. We sampled aphids from five host plant species in Iran and detected strong population subdivision, with an overall multilocus F_ST of 0.191. The matrix of pairwise F_ST values indicated that differentiation between populations collected from different hosts was significantly stronger than between populations from the same hosts. Host-associated differentiation was further supported by Bayesian clustering analyses, which grouped all samples from cotton together with aubergine, and all samples from cucumber together with pumpkin and hibiscus. This adds to the growing body of evidence that many seemingly generalist aphids are in fact an assemblage of host-specialized lineages. Although we detected a clear genetic signature of clonal reproduction, the genotypic diversity of A. gossypii in Iran is much higher than in other parts of the world. Particularly samples from cotton exhibited a surprisingly high genotypic diversity, suggesting that many lineages on this host are cyclical parthenogens that engage in regular bouts of sexual reproduction.
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Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Saeid Moharramipour, Jabraeil Razmjou, Yaghoub Fathipour

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
general biology - morphology - evolution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Aphis gossypii	Eggplant (Solanum melongena)	Iran
	Aphis gossypii	Cotton (Gossypium)	Iran
	Aphis gossypii	Cucumber (Cucumis sativus)	Iran
	Aphis gossypii	Squash/pumpkin (Cucurbita)	Iran
	Aphis gossypii	Hibiscus (crop)	Iran