Genetic analysis of Cydia pomonella (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) populations with different levels of sensitivity towards the Cydia pomonella granulovirus (CpGV)

Microsatellite (simple sequence repeats, SSR) and mitochondrial DNA markers were used to assess the structure of European codling moth populations showing different levels of susceptibility towards one of the most important biocontrol agents used in apple production, the Cydia pomonella granulovirus CpGV-M. In 638 C. pomonella individuals from 33 different populations a total of 92 different alleles were scored using six SSR loci. The global estimate of genetic differentiation for all 33 populations was not significantly different from zero, thus indicating a lack of genetic differentiation. AMOVA analysis revealed a very weak but significant variance among C. pomonella populations from different geographic regions, however, no significant variation was evident between CpGV-M resistant or susceptible C. pomonella populations. Sequence analysis of a fragment of the cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 in eight C. pomonella populations resulted in 27 haplotypes, which were grouped in two distinct clusters. Again, no genetic differentiation between CpGV-M resistant and susceptible codling moth populations was detectable. In addition, Structure analysis using microsatellites and association tests with mtDNA haplotypes found neither population-level nor individual correlations associated with CpGV-M resistance. Accordingly, this lack of population structure does not allow discriminating between one or several, separate origins of CpGV-M resistance.