Genetic variation of Aphis gossypii Glover (Hemiptera: Aphididae) in eastern Guilan and western Mazandaran provinces (Iran)

Aphis gossypii Glover (Hemiptera: Aphididae) is a polyphagus pest worldwide. It causes severe damage to numerous economically important crops. Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were used to evaluate genetic variation among different populations of Aphis gossypii in some parts of North of Iran. DNA was extracted from individual aphids collected from (3 regions in western Mazandaran and 4 regions in eastern Guilan provinces, North of Iran) and amplified in PCR reactions using eighteen random primers. Random primers produced 275 polymorphic bands, an average of 15.277 informative markers per primer. Genetic identity and distance obtained using Nei’s index (0.824, 0.193 respectively), show a high genetic similarity and a low genetic distance among winged and the wingless groups. Moreover, data analysis revealed a significant genetic diversity within wingless individual aphids rather than winged ones. Individuals were clustered using UPGMA method and Jacard similarity index. They were grouped in five main groups while wingless and winged individuals were distributed in different groups.