Phylogenetic status of Asian rice gall midge, Orseolia oryzae in the Cecidomyiidae family

Abstract

The Asian rice gall midge, Orseolia oryzae is a one of the major pest of rice which seriously infests the rice of several Asian countries and it causes major economic loses. The formation of silvery white hollow tube gall (silver shoot) is the major symptom of the rice gall midge infestation. Different biotypes or populations of rice gall midge were observed after the wide use of gall midge resistant rice varieties and the chemical control of the gal midge is difficult, because the larvae are safe inside the gall. In this study we have developed a DNA barcode and determined the phylogenetic status of Asian rice gall midge, O. oryzae in Cecidomyiidae family. Among the species used in this study F. acarivora is the nearest relative of O. oryzae and R. yagoi is the distant relative and the mitochondrial DNA of the O. oryzae also showed clear bias to AT and it showed close similarity mean observed AT composition of the insect mtDNA. This study also revealed that the nucleotides in the each codone position of O. oryzae have variation in the strong and less constrained position of codones with other species of Cecidomyiidae family.