An analysis of morphological and genetic diversity of mango fruit flies in Pakistan.

Fruit flies of genus Bactrocera are important insect pests of commercially cultivated mangos in Pakistan limiting its successful production in the country. Despite the economic risk, the genetic diversity and population dynamics of this pest have remained unexplored. This study aimed to morphologically identify Bactrocera species infesting Mango in major production areas of the country and to confirm the results with insect DNA barcode techniques. Infested mango fruits from the crop of 2022, were collected from 46 locations of 11major production districts of Punjab and Sindh provinces, and first-generation flies were obtained in the laboratory. All 10,653 first generation flies were morphologically identified as two species of Bactrocera; dorsalis and zonata showing geography-based relative abundance in the two provinces; Punjab and Sindh. Morphological identification was confirmed by mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase gene subunit I (mt-COI) based DNA barcoding. Genetic analysis of mtCOI gene region of 61 selected specimens by the presence of two definite clusters and reliable intraspecific distances validated the results of morphological identification. This study by morphological identification of a large number of fruit fly specimens from the fields across Pakistan validated by insect DNA barcode reports two species of Bactrocera infesting mango in the country.

Metagenomic analysis of relative abundance and diversity of bacterial microbiota in Bemisia tabaci infesting cotton crop in Pakistan.

B. tabaci species complex are among the world's most devastating agricultural pests causing economic losses by direct feeding and more importantly by transmitting plant viruses like cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD) associated viruses to cultivated cotton in Pakistan. Taxonomic diversity of B. tabaci associated bacterial communities using NGS techniques so far is reported from insects grown on artificial diet under lab conditions. In this study 16S rDNA metagenome sequencing analysis was used to characterize bacterial compositions in wild adult B. tabaci infesting cultivated cotton in eight major cotton growing districts of southern Punjab, Pakistan. We have identified 50 known and 7 unknown genera of bacteria belonging to 10 phyla, 20 classes, 30 orders and 40 families. Beta diversity analysis of our data sets reveal that whiteflies infesting cotton in geographically distinct locations had similar bacterial diversity. These results for the first time provide insights into the microbiome diversity of wild type whiteflies infesting a cultivated crop.