Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism assays to distinguish Liriomyza huidobrensis (Diptera: Agromyzidae) from associated species on lettuce cropping systems in Italy.

Abstract

The pea leafminer, Liriomyza huidobrensis (Blanchard) (Diptera: Agromyzidae), is a serious insect pest infesting open field lettuce plantings in northern Italy. In these cropping systems, it coexists with several other agromyzid species that have negligible economic importance on open field vegetables. The rapid detection of L. huidobrensis is crucial for effective management strategies, but the identification of agromyzids to species can be very difficult at adult as well at immature stages. In this study, a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay is proposed to separate L. huidobrensis from Liriomyza bryoniae (Kaltenbach), Liriomyza trifolii (Burgess), and Chromatomyia horticola (Goureau), which usually occur in the same lettuce plantings. An approximately 1,031-bp region of the mitochondrial genome encompassing the 3' region of cytochrome oxidase I, the whole leucine tRNA, and all of the cytochrome oxidase II was amplified by PCR and digested using the enzymes PvuII and SnaBI separately. Both endonucleases cut the amplicons of L. huidobrensis in two fragments, whereas the original band was not cleaved in the other analyzed species. The presence of Dacnusa spp. DNA does not bias the assay, because the PCR conditions and the primer set here described do not amplify any tract of this endoparasitic wasp genome.