Aphis gossypii/Aphis frangulae collected worldwide: Microsatellite markers data and genetic cluster assignment

Abstract

Aphis gossypii is a cosmopolitan aphid species able to colonize hundreds of plant species from various families [1]. It causes serious damage to a wide range of crops and it is considered a major pest of cucurbits and cotton [2]. It reproduces clonally, by obligate parthenogenesis, on secondary hosts present throughout the year in the intertropical area. At higher latitude, some lineages clonally overwinter but part of the population may have a sexual reproduction in autumn on primary host such as Hibiscus syriacus, to generate cold resistant overwintering eggs [3]. It is highly challenging to distinguish A. gossypii from its sister species Aphis frangulae as both are colonizing solanaceous plants as secondary hosts but the primary host of A. frangulae is Frangula alnus[4]. This paper describes a worldwide collection of both species from December 1989 to September 2019. Aphids were collected individually on plants (19 families) or in traps. The location, the morph type and the botanical family of the host plant were registered. DNA was extracted from each aphid and amplified at 8 microsatellite loci [5]. Amplicons were analysed with ABI technology and their size was defined with Genemapper software. We named each unique combination of alleles, called a multilocus genotype (MLG), and then each individual was given its MLG. The matrix of alleles of all MLGs was run for a Bayesian analysis to describe the genetic structure of the diversity collected and then each MLG had a probability to belong to a genetic group [6,7]. Probability of assignation to each genetic group revealed by the analysis was reported to each individual according to its MLG.This dataset can be used to analyze host plant specificities in A. gossypii, genetic diversity in A. gossypii and relative incidence of variants in diverse geographical regions, admixture between two sister species (Aphis gossypii and Aphis frangulae).