title: Use of RAPD in assessing the genetic variability in Spodoptera litura.
abstract: A polymerase chain reaction based assay to distinguish six different ecotypes of the Spodoptera litura, a sporadic insect pest and a predominant defoliator of various crops was carried out. A total of 40 random primers were screened to reveal the existence of polymorphism between the populations. Among them eight showed scorable banding patterns and three primers (OPA-01, OPA-05, OPM-01) exhibited distinguishable banding patterns. However, Chengalpattu and Chennai populations revealed their closed relatedness and Coimbatore population stood distantly from others.
authors.affiliation: Entomology Research Institute, Loyola College, Chennai 600 034, India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Janarthanan
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seshadri
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kathiravan
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ignacimuthu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique; D018411:Spodoptera / Q000235:genetics*