Molecular identification of elm bark beetles through DNA barcoding

Bark beetles as one of the most important pest group attacked to weak trees in forests and urban trees. Ulmus minor considers as an important host plant for bark beetles. This group of beetles feed on Phloem and transmit the pathogen of Dutch elm disease that cause high damage in Ulmus trees. The first and the most important step in preventing damage and bark beetles management is accurate identification of bark beetles. Because of small size and similarity in morphological characters of bark beetles, identification of this group is difficult and time consuming. In this study a DNA-based method barcoding was used to identify six bark beetles species that collected on Ulmus minor through sequencing 580bp of cytochrome oxidase one genome by using A2411 and C-N-J1718 universal primers. Obtained sequences were analyzed by MEGA ver.0 software. The results showed that the mean of interspecies nucleotide variation is 1.9% more than intraspecific variation 0.03% which confirmed DNA barcoding rule. The result showed that specimen identified in species level which proved DNA barcoding as a reliable tool to identify Ulmus bark beetles species.