Diversity of culturable gut bacteria of diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (Linnaeus) (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae) collected from different geographical regions of India.

Diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella is one of the important pests of cole crops, the larval stages cause damage to leaves from seedling stage to the harvest thus reducing the quality and quantity of the yield. The insect gut posses a large variety of microbial communities among which, the association of bacteria is the most spread and common. Due to variations in various agro-climatic factors, the insect often assumes the status of major pest. These geographical variations in insects influence various biological parameters including insecticide resistance due to diversity of microbes/bacteria. The diverse role of gut bacteria in insect fitness traits has now gained perspectives for biotechnological exploration. The present study was aimed to determine the diversity of larval gut bacteria of diamondback moth collected from five different geographical regions of India. The gut bacteria of this pest were found to be influenced by different geographical regions. A total of 14 larval gut bacterial isolates were obtained. Majority of these bacteria belong to Enterobacteriaceae followed by Yersiniaceae, Morganellaceae and Enterococcaceae. Phylogeny analysis of all the bacterial isolates collected from five different geographical regions of India revealed that all the isolated strains are resolved in well-defined clades with their closest type species.