Analysis of mitochondrial DNA to estimate the population genetic structure of Tuta absoluta (Meyrick, 1917)

Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) has become a serious menace to the sustainable production of tomatoes in Kenya. Investigating the genetic diversity, geographical distribution, and community structure of T. absoluta from various locations utilizing the Cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) of the mtDNA gene information available on NCBI databases. Based on the COI of mtDNA, the haplotype analysis revealed six haplotypes, which displayed low nucleotide (π = 0.00021) diversity. In contrast, haplotype diversity (Hd) was 0.05, and the number of segregating sites (S) was 13. The result showed that the tomato leaf miner population from Central Kenya had high variability in haplotype supported by the haplotype network. Tajima (D) and Fu's Fs were found to be negative (P greater than 0.05), whereas the overall FST value was 0.00077 (P greater than 0.001). In conclusion, genetic analysis showed there was no high variation amongst population from different locations.