DNA Barcoding for Identification of Agriculturally Important Insects

Molecular characterization and DNA barcoding is a taxonomic method that uses a short genetic marker in an insect DNA to identify a species, including an unknown species. The DNA barcode method of identification includes, for example, identifying insect species from any developing stage and part; otherwise, identifying insects morphologically generally depends on adult stage and male genitalia. The utility of DNA barcoding for these purposes is subject to debate; however, in insects at least, it is approximately 650 bp of the mitochondrial gene, cytochrome oxidase I (COX I). The approximate number of described insect species in India is 59,000; however, the number of barcodes generated from India is 4.6 % of known species, while the corresponding global scenario is about 16 % of described species; a lot of emphasis is required to catch up with the world scenario. In order to speed up taxonomic identification, DNA barcoding is now been considered as an alternative tool for insect biodiversity identification in India and the world. The present chapter deals with the use of barcode in the identification of insects belonging to different orders and families, using the neighbour-joining approach with the bootstrapping method and the Kimura-2 parameter to obtain a clear phylogenetic signal. In a neighbour-joining tree for all sequences, two clades were obtained: the first cluster consisting of hymenopteran insects and the other consisting of other orders. This phylogeny also agrees with the traditional phylogeny of insects. The present results, thus, favour DNA barcoding as a decisive tool in quick and reliable identification of insects.

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