The Internal Transcribed Spacer 1 Region, A Quick Tool for Molecular Identification of Bemisia tabaci

The Internal Transcribed Spacer 1 Region, A Quick Tool for Molecular Identification of Bemisia tabaci

Bemisiatabaci (Gennadius) is one of the important pests worldwide and affects a broad range of agricultural, vegetable and ornamental crops. Bemisia tabaci is a species complex formed by 41 biotypes and out of which five (H, P, K, G, B) have been reported from India. Among these biotypes, B biotype is most significant having the highest transmission efficiency for apical leaf curl virus disease. B biotype has been reported from southern parts of India only. It is a vector of Apical leaf Curl Virus (ALCV) in agricultural ecosystems. The problem is expected to worsen further owing to the frequent development of insecticide resistance and favourable climate change resulting in rapid multiplication of the whitefly population. Consequently the, vector population needs to be monitored continuously to quickly identify the biotypes and devise suitable management strategies. However, the complex life cycle of the vector, significant polymorphism in its populations and the fact that the morphological identification of different biotypes is tedious and thus, requires specialized training. With the advent of molecular markers, it is now feasible to identify the biotypes accurately and rapidly. The ITS region has been sequenced and biotype B specific primer are available for molecular markers based analysis of whitefly population. Therefore, present study was undertaken to validate the protocol using primers TW81 and SCAR Marker BB1 for quick identification of biotype B. Adults of B. tabaci were collected from host plants (Brinjal, lady’s finger and Potato) at CPRIC, Modipuram (Meerut). The results obtained with diagnostic biotype B specific primer TW81 and SCAR marker of biotype B specific primers that amplified PCR products only from biotype B genomic DNA and gave a negative result with Modipuram whitefly. It is confirmed that white fly population at Modipuram is not biotype-B..