Abstract
The lac insects (Homoptera: Tachardiidae), belonging to the genus Kerria, are commercially exploited for the production of lac. Kerria lacca is the most commonly used species in India. RAPD markers were used for assessing genetic variation in forty-eight lines of Kerria, especially among geographic races, infrasubspecific forms, cultivated lines, inbred lines, etc., of K. lacca. In the 48 lines studied, the 26 RAPD primers generated 173 loci, showing 97.7% polymorphism. By using neighbor-joining, the dendrogram generated from the similarity matrix resolved the lines into basically two clusters and outgroups. The major cluster, comprising 32 lines, included mainly cultivated lines of the rangeeni form, geographic races and inbred lines of K. lacca. The second cluster consisted of eight lines of K. lacca, seven of the kusmi form and one of the rangeeni from the southern state of Karnataka. The remaining eight lines formed a series of outgroups, this including a group of three yellow mutant lines of K. lacca and other species of the Kerria studied, among others. Color mutants always showed distinctive banding patterns compared to their wild-type counterparts from the same population. This study also adds support to the current status of kusmi and rangeeni, as infraspecific forms of K. lacca.
Highlights
The lac insects (Coccoidea: Tachardiidae (= Kerriidae)) have been commercially harnessed to yield three useful products, viz., resin, wax and dye, which have found a remarkably wide range of applications in food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, perfumes, varnishes, paints, polishes, adhesives, jewellery and textile dyes, since ancient times (Dave, 1950; Sarkar, 2002; Ramani et al, 2007)
In India, most the production comes from the Indian lac insect Kerria lacca, represented by two infrasubspecific forms, viz., kusmi and rangeeni, which differ by host preference, life-cycle pattern, the quality and amount of lac produced, etc. (Kapur, 1962; Ramani, 2005)
All the PCR reactions were carried out in a thermal cycler (BioRad iCycler, USA) programmed with the following cycling conditions: initial denaturation of template DNA was carried out at 95 °C for 5 min followed by 35 cycles programmed for denaturation step at 95 °C for 1 min, Figure 1 - Map of India, showing State boundaries, collection sites of the cultivated lines, and geographic races of K. lacca and other species of Kerria studied (A: Jharkhand, B: Chhattisgarh, C: West Bengal, D: Madhya Pradesh, E: Uttar Pradesh, F: Orissa, G: Gujarat, H: Rajasthan, I: Maharshtra, J: Kerala, K: Karnataka, L: Andhra Pradesh, M: Meghalaya)
Summary
The lac insects (Coccoidea: Tachardiidae (= Kerriidae)) have been commercially harnessed to yield three useful products, viz., resin, wax and dye, which have found a remarkably wide range of applications in food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, perfumes, varnishes, paints, polishes, adhesives, jewellery and textile dyes, since ancient times (Dave, 1950; Sarkar, 2002; Ramani et al, 2007). In India, most the production comes from the Indian lac insect Kerria lacca, represented by two infrasubspecific forms, viz., kusmi and rangeeni, which differ by host preference, life-cycle pattern, the quality and amount of lac produced, etc.
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