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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Tifton, Georgia » Crop Genetics and Breeding Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #389635
Research Project: Genetic Improvement and Cropping Systems of Warm-season Grasses for Forage, Feedstocks, Syrup, and Turf

Location: Crop Genetics and Breeding Research

Title: Melanaphis sorghi (Hemiptera: Aphididae) clonal diversity in the United States and Brazil

Author
item Harris-Shultz, Karen
item Armstrong, John
item CARVALHO, GERALDO - Helix Seeds And Seedlings Llc
item PEREIRA SEGUNDO, JURANDIR - Helix Seeds And Seedlings Llc
item Ni, Xinzhi

Submitted to: Insects
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/13/2022
Publication Date: 4/28/2022
Citation: Harris-Shultz, K.R., Armstrong, J.S., Carvalho, G., Pereira Segundo, J., Ni, X. 2022. Melanaphis sorghi (Hemiptera: Aphididae) clonal diversity in the United States and Brazil. Insects. 13(5):416. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13050416.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13050416

Interpretive Summary: Sugarcane aphids have been a perennial economically important pest to U.S. sorghum since 2013. Previous research has shown this recent invader has been spreading as a super-clone in the U.S. To continuously monitor the genotypes present in the U.S. and to determine the genotype present in Brazil on sorghum, sugarcane aphids were collected in 2019 and 2020. Genotyping of sugarcane aphid samples with microsatellite markers revealed that the super-clone predominated in the U.S. in 2019 and 2020 and Brazil in 2020. Thus, the sugarcane aphid super-clone remains in the U.S. on sorghum, Johnsongrass, and giant miscanthus and has spread to Brazil on sorghum.

Technical Abstract: Sugarcane aphids, Melanaphis sacchari (Hemiptera: Aphididae), are an economically important pest to sorghum in the Americas. Previous studies have found that a super-clone that belongs to mul-tilocus lineage (MLL)-F predominated in US from 2013 to 2018 and uses multiple hosts besides sorghum. In contrast, previous studies found that sugarcane aphids in South America belong to MLL-C but these studies only examined aphids on sugarcane. In this study we sought to deter-mine if the superclone persists in the U.S. in 2019-2020 and to determine the MLL of sugarcane aphids found on sorghum in the largest country in South America, Brazil. Sugarcane aphid samples (123) were collected from the U.S. in 2019-2020 and Brazil in 2020 and were genotyped with 8-9 sugarcane aphid microsatellite markers. Genotyping results found that all the samples from the US in 2019 and Brazil in 2020 had alleles identical to the predominant superclone. Of the 54 samples collected in the U.S. in 2020, 52 samples were identical to the predominant super-clone (multilocus lineage-F) and two samples from Texas differed from the super-clone by a single allele. These results show the super-clone remains in the U.S. on sorghum, Johnsongrass, and giant miscanthus and has spread within Brazil.