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Genetic variation in populations of Allothrombium pulvinum (Acari: Trombidiidae) from Northern Iran revealed by mitochondrial coxI and nuclear rDNA ITS2 sequences

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Abstract

Allothrombium pulvinum Ewing is a common natural enemy of aphids and some other arthropods. So far, there are no studies that have addressed genetic variation of this predatory mite. We investigated genetic variation of A. pulvinum across its whole known range in Iran. A 410 bp portion of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (coxI) and 797–802 bp portion of the internal transcribed spacer 2 of rDNA (ITS2) were sequenced for 55 individuals from 11 populations, resulting in 12 and 26 haplotypes, respectively. In the coxI region, haplotype and nucleotide diversities varied among populations from 0.00 to 0.90 and from 0.0000 to 0.0110, respectively. In the ITS2 region they varied from 0.20 to 0.91 and from 0.0006 to 0.0023, respectively. For both gene regions the highest haplotype and nucleotide diversities were detected in population Mahmoud Abad from northern Iran. Statistically significant population differentiation (F ST) was detected in most pair-wise population comparisons. The results of population differentiation for both gene regions were generally congruent indicating that A. pulvinum from Iran consists of genetically different populations. This suggests that A. pulvinum comprises at least two geographically distinct populations or even more than one species. This study is an initial step towards understanding genetic variation of A. pulvinum, a taxon for which little molecular information is available. More intensive sampling and analysis of additional DNA regions are necessary for more detailed classification of this taxon.

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Acknowledgments

We are especially grateful to Dr. X-R Wang, Umeå University, Sweden, for helpful discussion and comments on the manuscript. We also thank Dr. Gholamhossein Tahmasbi, Pest and Plant Disease Research Institute, Iran, for kindly helping in sampling as well as Ms. Mitra Moezi-pour who helped at the time of field collection. This work was supported by the research grants from Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to A.E.S. and N.I. and from the University of Tehran to A.S.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, University of Tehran, 31587-77871, Karaj, Iran

    Marjan Khalili Mahani & Alireza Saboori

  2. Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Kyushu University, Kyushu, 812-8581, Japan

    Marjan Khalili Mahani, Nobuyuki Inomata, Hiroko Ishiyama & Alfred E. Szmidt

  3. Entomological Laboratory, College of Agriculture, Kyushu University, Kyushu, 812-8581, Japan

    Ardeshir Ariana

  4. Department of Agro Biotechnology, College of Agriculture, Isfahan University of Technology, 8415683111, Isfahan, Iran

    Baraldin Ebrahim Sayed Tabatabaei

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  1. Marjan Khalili Mahani
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  2. Nobuyuki Inomata
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Correspondence to Alfred E. Szmidt.

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Khalili Mahani, M., Inomata, N., Saboori, A. et al. Genetic variation in populations of Allothrombium pulvinum (Acari: Trombidiidae) from Northern Iran revealed by mitochondrial coxI and nuclear rDNA ITS2 sequences. Exp Appl Acarol 48, 273–289 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10493-009-9241-7

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