Low mtDNA diversity among widespread Australian diamondback moth Plutella xylostella (L.) suggests isolation and a founder effect

Abstract

Abstract Populations of Australian diamondback moth (DBM) Plutella xylostella (L.), a serious pest of cruciferous crops, display extremely low levels of genetic differentiation across Australia and New Zealand sample locations, as determined previously using microsatellite markers. These data suggest high levels of contemporary gene flow that is consistent with Australian DBM being a vagile species. Here we examine Australian DBM samples for haplotype variation using the mitochondrial DNA sequences of a 257 bp fragment of the CO1 gene. We compare this variation to equivalent mtDNA sequence variation in samples from New Zealand, Kenya and Korea. Using 42 moths collected throughout Australia w..