AFLP, mtDNA, and microsatellite analysis of emerald ash borer populations from Asia and North America

Emerald ash borer (EAB), (Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire), has been classified as an invasive species since 2002 in Michigan and Canada. Despite extensive efforts by Canada and United States, efforts to eradicate this destructive pest have failed. Intensive sampling of EAB populations from Asia and within the Great Lakes region has continued since EAB’s discovery to provide information on invasion genetics, possible age of infestation, and to determine if there was a single or multiple introductions of EAB into North America. For this study, EAB individuals were collected from eleven localities in the native Asian range and ten localities from the introduced range in North America. A haplotype network based on sequences of 450 nucleotides of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I shows a single common haplotype in most individuals from North America and Asia. However, three haplotypes from sites in Liaoning Province (China) and five haplotypes from sites in South Korea differ from this main haplotype by 1 - 5 base pairs, while the haplotype of a single Japanese specimen differed from the main haplotype by 22 base pairs. Results obtained from amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) fingerprinting and by genotyping individuals at microsatellite loci will also be presented. These data are being used to test for population differentiation both within and between the native Asian and introduced North American EAB populations. Knowledge of EAB genetics will be used to understand the invasion dynamics of the beetle and to help identify geographic localities of potential biocontrol agents.