Molecular Characterization and DNA Barcoding of Black Gram Pod Borers from Andhra Pradesh, India

Background: Four different pod borers species viz., Spotted pod borer (Maruca vitrata), Tobacco cutworm (Spodoptera litura), Gram blue butterfly (Euchrysops cnejus) and Banner moth (Eublemma dimidialis) were collected from black gram fields of Tirupati district, Andhra Pradesh. Methods: Molecular characterization of mtCOI sequences of the four black gram pod borer species were deposited in NCBI and accession numbers were allotted, M. vitrata (PP938848), S. litura (PP938758), E. cnejus (PP938841) and E. dimidialis (PP938850) respectively. DNA barcodes were generated and BINs were allotted for four different pod borers and available at BOLD public database. Result: The phylogenetic analysis of all the pod borers together revealed that the pod borer species were distinctly separated at genus level and were grouped into congeneric clusters. The DNA barcode of E. dimidialis (BOLD:AAB6502) was generated for the first time from India and the DNA barcode of E. cnejus (BOLD:AAD0845) was generated for the first time from Andhra Pradesh, India.