Genetic Variation Among the Geographic Population of the Grain Aphid, Sitobion avenae (Hemiptera: Aphididae) in China Inferred from Mitochondrial COI Gene Sequence

In order to characterize the genetic relationship of the geographic populations of Sitobion avenae (Hemiptera: Aphididae) in China, a 588 bp region of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (mtDNA-COI) gene was sequenced and analyzed among the different geographic populations. 269 individuals were collected from 17 localities in different wheat-growing areas in China that covered most of the range reported for this species. Within the sequence among these geographic populations, 15 polymorphic sites defined 16 distinct haplotypes, ranging in sequence divergence from 0.2% (one nucleotide) to 1.7% (10 nucleotides). Of the 15 variable sites, 12 were transitional substitutions, 2 were transversional substitutions and 1 was transitional and transversional substitution. Phylogenetic analysis showed that all haplotypes were highly interconnected with each other, in absence of phylogeographic structing. Each of 8 haplotypes was found only at one locality, and the other haplotypes were the widespread distributed in the different localities. The higher genetic diversity was found in the northern China populations than that in the southern China populations. The low genetic differentiation (F-ST=-0.06945-0.69857) and high migration rate (Nm=0.21575-infinite) of Chinese populations suggest that dispersal over long distance is a major factor in the demography of S. avenae.