Internal transcribed spacer-2 restriction fragment length polymorphism (ITS-2-RFLP) tool to differentiate some exotic and indigenous trichogrammatid egg parasitoids in India

ITS-2-RFLP method was employed to distinguish 12 different trichogrammatids consisting of indigenous and exotic species such as Trichogrammatoidea armigera and Tr. bactrae, Trichogramma achaeae, T. chilonis, T. japonicum, T. embryophagum, T. pretiosum (Thelytokous Form—TF), T. brassicae, T. dendrolimi, T. evanescens and T. mwanzai. ITS-2 region was amplified; complete ITS-2 sequences of nine species were deposited in Genbank. The size of the amplified product ranged from 500 to 900 bp. Restriction enzyme digestion of ITS-2 region showed different banding profiles for these 12 species. Dichotomous keys using the size of the ITS-2 product and the restriction fragment length polymorphism for the enzymes (EcoRI, MseI, MvaI, and TaqI) allowed quick species identification of these trichogrammatids.