title: Genetic differentiation in the winter pine processionary moth (Thaumetopoea pityocampa--wilkinsoni complex), inferred by AFLP and mitochondrial DNA markers.
abstract: The winter pine processionary moth has become an important pine pest in the last century, as a consequence of the spread of pine cultivation in the Mediterranean region. The pattern of genetic differentiation of this group, that includes two sibling species (Thaumetopoea pityocampa and Th. wilkinsoni), has been studied in nine populations using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and single strand conformation polymorphism-sequence analysis (SSCP) of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase 1 (COI) and cytochrome oxydase 2 (COII). Results indicate the existence of strong genetic differentiation between the two species that became separated before the Quaternary ice ages. Moreover data indicate that Th. pityocampa has a strong geographical structure, particularly evident at the nuclear level, where all pairwise phiST resulted to be highly significant and individuals from the same population resulted to be strongly clustered when an individual tree was reconstructed. The estimates of the absolute number of migrants between populations (Nm), obtained from mitochondrial and nuclear DNA markers, suggest that gene flow is low and that a gender-related dispersal could occur in this species. The males appear to disperse more than females, contributing to the genetic diversity of populations on a relatively wide range, reducing the risks of inbreeding and the genetic loss associated with bottlenecks occurring in isolated populations.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Agronomia Ambientale e Produzioni Vegetali Entomologia, Agripolis, Università di Padova, Via Romea 16-35020 Legnaro PD Italy.
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Salvato
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Battisti
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Concato
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Masutti
authors.forename: Tomaso
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Patarnello
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zane
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000235:genetics; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D005788:Gene Pool; D005819:Genetic Markers; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D019083:Mediterranean Region; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009036:Moths / Q000235:genetics*; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D018807:Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D005819:Genetic Markers