Cloning Folmer region of mtCOI gene diagnostic for sugarcane early shoot borer, Chilo infuscatellus Snellen (Lepidoptera: Crambidae)

Abstract

Early shoot borer (ESB), Chilo infuscatellus Snellen (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) is an important pest of sugarcane and distributed across the Indian subcontinent. It was originally described as Diatraea saccharalis and after several revisions by many taxonomists, it was finally accepted as C. infuscatellus. The limitations associated with conventional alpha taxonomy such as phenotypic plasticity of key morphological traits, could be the possible reason for taxonomic uncertainty of the species. DNA barcoding has emerged as a complementary approach to conventional taxonomy and has also been proved as a powerful tool to identify cryptic species in the population. Hence, the '˜Folmer region' of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (mtCOI) gene from early shoot borer has been cloned to serve as the barcode for the species. The DNA barcode developed in this study would address the anomalies that exist in the identification of early shoot borer. The barcode generated by us is the ideal one as it is exactly 658 bp in size and carries no stop codon in its amino acid sequence. KM453722 is the unique GenBank accession number for the DNA barcode of C. infuscatellus. The DNA barcode developed in this study would serve as an ideal molecular diagnostic kit for correct identification of C. infuscatellus irrespective of its sex, stage and polymorphism.