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Genetic structure and gene flow among European corn borer populations from the Great Plains to the Appalachians of North America
Citation:
Kim, K., B. S. Coates, M. BAGLEY, R. L. Hellmich, AND T. W. Sappington. Genetic structure and gene flow among European corn borer populations from the Great Plains to the Appalachians of North America. AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST ENTOMOLOGY. Wiley-Blackwell, Hoboken, NJ, 13(4):383-393, (2011).
Impact/Purpose:
Biological resource conservation and management programs have benefitted greatly over the last decade from advances in population genetics research. The EPA, while having very similar goals to these programs, has yet to capitalize on the rapid advances in molecular population genetic methods. This research aims to evaluate the utility of population genetic measurements for describing the current condition and vulnerabilities of biological populations exposed to anthropogenic stressors.
Description:
Earlier population genetic spatial analysis of European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hubner), indicated no genetic differentiation even between locations separated by 720 km. This result suggests either high dispersal resulting in high gene flow, or that populations are not in migration-drift equilibrium since their invasion of the central U.S. in the 1940s. To discriminate among these two possibilities, samples were collected at 12 locations in eight states from New York to Colorado, a geographic scale 3-fold greater than previously tested. Eight microsatellite markers were employed to estimate genetic differentiation and gene flow among these populations, and to test for isolation by distance. Analyses indicate significant differentiation between the northeastern region (New York and Pennsylvania) and the region combining sample locations from Ohio to Colorado, suggesting the potential for isolation of populations by topographic barriers in the northeast. Taken together, the results suggest that O. nubilalis exhibits substantial gene flow over long distances and that the lack of genetic differentiation between populations across hundreds of kilometers is not simply due to migration-drift disequilibrium arising from a recent range expansion.