Population structure and genetic diversity of invasive Fall Armyworm after 2 years of introduction in India.

Fall Armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda, is a polyphagous pest capable of feeding over 80 plant species and was indigenous to the Western Hemisphere. Within a span of 4 years, FAW has established itself throughout most of the regions in Africa and Asia causing significant losses in maize production. Owing to its revamped distribution range, it would be prudent to analyze the ensuing genetic changes and study the emerging phylogeographic patterns across the world. In this regard, we would like to provide a current snapshot of genetic diversity of FAW in India 2 years after the initial introduction and compare it with the worldwide diversity in order to trace the origins and evolutionary trajectories of FAW in India. We have investigated around 190 FAW samples from different regions in India for strain identity and polymorphism analysis on the basis of partial mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene sequences. Apart from the ancestral rice and corn strain haplotype, our study demonstrates the presence of 14 more haplotypes unique to India at a haplotype diversity of 0.356. We were also able to record inter-strain hybrid haplotypes of rice and corn strains in India. Regional heterogeneity within Indian populations seems to be quite low representative of extensive migration of FAW within India. Distribution analysis of pairwise differences and rejection of neutrality tests suggest that the FAW population in India might be undergoing expansion. Our data is consistent with the findings suggesting a recent and common origin for invasive FAW populations in Asia and Africa, and does not indicate multiple introductions to India. This study reports the highest genetic diversity for Indian FAW populations to date and will be useful to track the subsequent evolution of FAW in India. The findings would have important ramifications for FAW behavior and composition throughout the world.

Pontibacter ummariensis sp. nov., isolated from a hexachlorocyclohexane-contaminated soil.

A Gram-stain-negative, pinkish-red, rod-shaped bacterium designated strain NKM1T was isolated from soil samples contaminated with hexachlorocyclohexane isomers, collected from Ummari village, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. The strain was characterized by a polyphasic taxonomic approach. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain NKM1T clustered exclusively with members of the genus Pontibacter of the family Cytophagaceae, phylum Bacteroidetes. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to type strains of the genus Pontibacter ranged from 96.7 to 93.8 %, with the highest sequence similarity found with Pontibacter odishensis JC130T (96.7 %). Cells of strain NKM1T were aerobic, non-flagellated and non-motile. Strain NKM1T was catalase- and oxidase-positive but negative for nitrate reduction and hydrolysis of gelatin. The major fatty acids in strain NKM1T were anteiso-C15 : 0, iso-C15 : 0, C16 : 0, C18 : 1ω9c and summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c and/or C16 : 1ω6c). The polar lipid profile of strain NKM1T showed the presence of phosphatidylethanolamine and unknown glycolipids as well as aminolipids. sym-Homospermidine was found to be the major polyamine and menaquinone 7 (MK-7) was the major respiratory quinone. The DNA G+C content of strain NKM1T was determined to be 58.6 mol%. Based on phenotypic, chemotaxonomic, physiological and biochemical evidence, it is proposed that isolate NKM1T represents a novel species that belongs to the genus Pontibacter, for which the name Pontibacter ummariensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is NKM1T ( = DSM 100161T = KCTC 42944T = MCC 2777T).