Pest Management Science (2022) 78, 2909-2920

Xin-Yu Zhou, Yi Ding, Jia-Yi Zhou, Kang-Kang Sun, Keiichiro Matsukura, Hui Zhang, Lei Chen, Xiao-Yue Hong and Jing-Tao Sun (2022)
Genetic evidence of transoceanic migration of the small brown planthopper between China and Japan
Pest Management Science 78 (7), 2909-2920
Abstract:
BACKGROUND
The small brown planthopper, Laodelphax striatellus (Fallén), is an important pest of rice. It is suspected of migrating over the sea from China to Japan. However, where in China it comes from and how it affects Japanese populations remain unclear.
RESULTS
Here, we studied the genetic structure of 15 L. striatellus populations sampled from Japan and China using single nucleotide polymorphisms generated by the double digest restriction site-associated DNA sequencing technique. We found weak genetic differentiation between the Chinese and Japanese populations. Our data revealed migration signals of L. striatellus from China to southern and northern Japan. However, the source regions of the immigrants remain unclear due to the low genetic differentiation between populations. Our results also pointed to the possibility of backward gene flow from Japanese to Chinese populations. We suspect that the south-eastern wind associated with the East Asian summer monsoon may facilitate the reverse migration of L. striatellus from Japan to China. Interestingly, we found that the X chromosome displayed relatively higher genetic differentiation among populations and suffered more intensive selection pressure than autosomes.
CONCLUSION
We provide genetic evidence of transoceanic migration of L. striatellus from China to Japan and found that the X chromosome can aid the deciphering of the migration trajectories of species with low genetic differentiation. These findings have implications for forecasting the outbreak of this pest and also provide insights into how to improve the tracking of the migration routes of small insects via population genomics.
(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): Xiao-Yue Hong

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
population dynamics/ epidemiology

---

Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Laodelphax striatellus	Rice (Oryza)	China (south)
	Laodelphax striatellus	Rice (Oryza)	Japan
	Laodelphax striatellus	Rice (Oryza)	China (NE)