title: Low genetic diversity in Melanaphis sacchari aphid populations at the worldwide scale.
abstract: Numerous studies have examined the genetic diversity and genetic structure of invading species, with contrasting results concerning the relative roles of genetic diversity and phenotypic plasticity in the success of introduced populations. Increasing evidence shows that asexual lineages of aphids are able to occupy a wide geographical and ecological range of habitats despite low genetic diversity. The anholocyclic aphid Melanaphis sacchari is a pest of sugarcane and sorghum which originated in the old world, was introduced into the Americas, and is now distributed worldwide. Our purpose was to assess the genetic diversity and structuring of populations of this species according to host and locality. We used 10 microsatellite markers to genotype 1333 individuals (57 samples, 42 localities, 15 countries) collected mainly on sugarcane or sorghum. Five multilocus lineages (MLL) were defined, grouping multilocus genotypes (MLG) differing by only a few mutations or scoring errors. Analysis of a 658 bp sequence of mitochondrial COI gene on 96 individuals revealed five haplotypes, with a mean divergence of only 0.19 %. The distribution of MLL appeared to be strongly influenced by geography but not by host plant. Each of the five MLL grouped individuals from (A) Africa, (B) Australia, (C) South America, the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean including East Africa, (D) USA, and (E) China. The MLL A and C, with a wide geographic distribution, matched the definition of superclone. Among aphids, M. sacchari has one of the lowest known rates of genetic diversity for such a wide geographical distribution.
authors.affiliation: Cirad, UMR PVBMT, Saint-Pierre, La Réunion, France.
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nibouche
authors.affiliation: Cirad, UMR PVBMT, Saint-Pierre, La Réunion, France; Université de la Réunion, UMR PVBMT, Saint-Pierre, La Réunion, France.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fartek
authors.affiliation: Cirad, UMR PVBMT, Saint-Pierre, La Réunion, France.
authors.forename: Stelly
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mississipi
authors.affiliation: Cirad, UMR PVBMT, Saint-Pierre, La Réunion, France.
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Delatte
authors.affiliation: Cirad, UMR PVBMT, Saint-Pierre, La Réunion, France.
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Reynaud
authors.affiliation: Cirad, UMR PVBMT, Saint-Pierre, La Réunion, France.
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Costet
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D000818:Animals; D001042:Aphids / Q000235:genetics*; D001315:Australia; D017691:Caribbean Region; D002681:China; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D058865:Introduced Species; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D010802:Phylogeny; D058974:Phylogeography; D013020:South America
chemical_list: D019476:Insect Proteins; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV