Molecular characterization and identification of insect pollinators of Valeriana jatamansi Jones from Shimla Hills, Western Himalaya, India

Abstract

Valeriana jatamansi Jones a perennial medicinal herb belongs to the family Caprifoliaceae and highly pollinated by wild insect pollinators. In present investigation a total of 51 species of flower visitors were reported on V. jatamansi at altitude range of 1,927 to 2,850 m, in different localities of Shimla Hills, Western Himalaya. The collected insect pollinator species were taxonomically identified and 29 of them were olecularly characterized and identified using the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) sequence from mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). BLAST analysis revealed 98 to 100 per cent similarity with the existing GenBank sequences. The average AT content was found to be significantly higher (69.8%) compared to the GC content (30.0%), indicating AT bias in all sequences. Phylogenetic analysis of 29 different species of insect ‘pollinator of V. jatamansi revealed two clades, one shows phylogenetic relationship between 28 species which belongs to four orders Diptera, Hymenoptera, Hemiptera and Lepidoptera and the other shows the one species which belongs to order Coleoptera. This study contributes to increasing the number of published accounts of NCBI and helps to accurately distinguish the pollinator fauna of Valeriana Jatamansi.