DNA ‘barcoding’ has potential applications in insect pest monitoring and quarantine since large numbers of DNA sequences for insect species identification have been reported in recent years. However, the exact number of relevant COI sequences in public databases such as NCBI (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) is not readily available. The IMGD (Insect Mitochondrial Genome Database; http://www.imgd.org) contains 162,847 partially sequenced mitochondrial gene entries originated from 35,067 hexapod species and makes it possible to check whether DNA sequences have been previously reported or not for certain insect species. In this study, we applied the IMGD to establish baseline data for the forest pest insects in Korea, before constructing a DNA barcode system. Retrieving data from the IMGD, we recognized that DNA sequences were already available for 73 of 259 species known as forest pest insects in Korea. Most of the 73 species with DNA sequences are common pests worldwide but there maining 186 species are endemic to the Eastern Palearctic region. Based on these data, we are proceeding to construct a Korean Forest Insect Pest DNA barcode database.

The IMGD (Insect Mitochondrial Genome Database; http://www.imgd.org) archives 113,985 partially sequenced hexapod mitochondrial genome entries (PMEs), providing various information such as the number of mitochondrial genes or taxonomic information. The 113,985 PMEs show most PCGs including much larger number of PMEs than rRNAs and tRNAs, and the family, genus, and species information are focused on five orders, Coleoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, and Hemiptera in 31 hexapoda orders. The alignment of 58,238 COI gene entries shows discordance in fragment length and portion, resulting DNA barcode using 5′-region cannot be applied for all COI gene entries overall hexapod orders.

Mitochondrial genomes offer markers useful for understanding evolutionary relationships among insects. The Insect Mitochondrial Genome Database (IMGD), which was developed to support phylogenetic studies using insect mitochondrial genome sequences and comparison of genomic features across species, currently archives fully sequenced mitochondrial genomes of 114 species and 86,078 genes in partially sequenced mitochondrial genomes from 21,605 species. The IMGD provides tools supporting phylogenetic analyses and comparison of individual genome sequences (e.g., GC ratio and order of genes) via the species-driven user interface (SUI). Through SUI users can quickly analyze mitochondrial genomes at any taxon level using eight functions. The IMGD will serve as a versatile informatics platform not only for archiving rapidly increasing insect mitochondrial gene sequences but also for conducting systematic phylogenetic and comparative analyses of insects.