Genome-wide SNP discovery in field and laboratory colonies of Australian Plutella species

Understanding dispersal and gene flow is an important focus of evolutionary biology, conservation biology and pest management. The diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella, is a worldwide pest of Brassica vegetable and oilseed cropping systems. This insect has high dispersal ability, which has important consequences for population dynamics and the potential spread of insecticide resistance genes. Population genetic studies of the diamondback moth have found little evidence of population structure, suggesting that frequent intermixing occurs within regions, however the patterns of local and regional dispersal remain to be identified. For this and many other pest species, understanding dispersal is crucial for developing integrated management tactics such as forecasting systems and insecticide resistance management plans. In recent years, next generation sequencing (NGS) methods have provided previously unparalleled resolution for population genetic studies in a wide range of species. Here, we assessed the potential of NGS-derived molecular markers to provide new insights about population structure in the diamondback moth. We use restriction-site-associated DNA sequencing (RADSeq) to discover hundreds to thousands of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers in nine field and laboratory-reared populations collected from Australia. Genotypic data from RAD-Seq markers identified a cryptic species, P. australiana, among individuals collected from a wild host, Diplotaxis sp., indicating strong divergence in the nuclear genomes of two Australian Plutella lineages. Significant genetic differentiation was detected among populations of P. xylostella used in our study, however this could be explained by reduced heterozogosity and genetic drift in laboratory-reared populations founded by relatively few individuals. This study demonstrates that RAD-Seq is a powerful method for generating SNP markers for population genetic studies in this species.