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. 2023 Dec 27;18(12):e0294034.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0294034. eCollection 2023.

Molecular characterization of mitochondrial COI gene sequences in Micraspis allardi from Pakistan

Rida Asrar  1 , Mariyam Masood  2 , Imran Bodlah  3 , Ghulam Rasool  4 , Nazia Suleman  5 , Sumaira Yousaf  5
Affiliations

Molecular characterization of mitochondrial COI gene sequences in Micraspis allardi from Pakistan

Rida Asrar et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

The Coccinellidae is a highly diversified family of order Coleoptera. Coccinellid ladybirds are well known for their role as biological control agent against varied range of agricultural pests. The samples of coccinellid ladybird collected from Pakistan were identified and characterized as Micraspis allardi (Mulsant, 1866). This is one of the least-studied ladybird species with limited work on its ecological distribution as a biological control agent. The genus Micraspis has vast genetic diversity with a possible presence of unknown number of cryptic species. Sequence information of some species of the genus Micraspis are present in NCBI database. However, least molecular data or sequences describing M. allardi could be available from database. Therefore, morphological and molecular characterization was imperative for this species. Here, the samples collected from sugarcane field of Faisalabad District of Pakistan and were identified by using morphological and molecular protocols. For molecular identification, two different regions of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene (COI-5' and COI- 3') were used as molecular markers for the identification of the species. Morphological appearance, DNA sequence similarity searches and phylogenetic analysis collectively indicated it as M. allardi. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report providing molecular evidence of M. allardi using mitochondrial DNA barcode region (658bp) as well as mtCOI-3' sequences (817bp). The study will help in understanding population genetics through diversity analysis, ecological role, and phenotypic structures associated with the geographic range of this species.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Morphological description of the Micraspis allardi.
(a): Dorsal-view (b): Abdomen (c): Penis (d): Tegmen lateral-view (e): Tegmen ventral-view.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Phylogeny analysis of COI-3ʹ sequences.
Phylogenetic tree analysis of under study beetle species (red colour) with sequences from the database.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Phylogenetic analysis of COI-5ʹ sequences.
Phylogenetic tree analysis of under study beetle species (red colour) with sequences from the database.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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