Identification of Eastern United States Reticulitermes Termite Species via PCR-RFLP, Assessed Using Training and Test Data

• DOI: 10.3390/insects6020524
• Publication Date: 2015-06-10T18:06:12Z
• Authors: Ryan Garrick; Benjamin Collins; Rachel Yi; Rodney Dyer; Chaz Hyseni
• Keywords: Reticulitermes; Agarose gel electrophoresis; Restriction site

Reticulitermes termites play key roles in dead wood decomposition and nutrient cycling forests. They also damage man-made structures, resulting considerable economic loss. In the eastern United States, five species (R. flavipes, R. virginicus, nelsonae, hageni malletei) have overlapping ranges are difficult to distinguish morphologically. Here we present a molecular tool for identification. It is based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of section mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit II gene, followed by three-enzyme restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) assay, with banding patterns resolved via agarose gel electrophoresis. The assay was designed using large set training data obtained from public DNA sequence database, then evaluated an independent test panel Southern Appalachian Mountains, which assignments were determined phylogenetic comparison reference sequences. After refining interpretive framework, PCR-RFLP shown provide accurate identification four co-occurring (the fifth species, hageni, absent panel, so accuracy cannot yet be extended data). cost- time-efficient, will help improve knowledge distributions.