The mitochondrial COI gene has often been utilized as a molecular marker for species identification. However, it has sometimes caused misidentification for some pairs of closely related species. For detecting complementary barcoding loci, we first screened candidate genes by calculating genetic distances within and between species based on 542 sequences collected from the Genbank by using aphids of the Eriosomatini as an example. Of eight genes analyzed, we selected the ATP6 and ATP8 genes, which exhibited lower intraspecific and higher interspecific genetic divergences than did the COI gene. Secondly, we tested the usefulness of these genes by calculating genetic distances between all the combinations of 44 individuals of 23 eriosomatine species for each of the ATP6, ATP8, and COI genes. In the ATP8 gene, the average intraspecific divergence was lowest (0.6%) and the average interspecific divergence was highest (14.7%). The ATP8 gene evolved more rapidly than did the COI gene if genetic divergence between individuals was sufficiently large, whereas it evolved more slowly than did COI if genetic divergence was less than a threshold (1% in COI distance). As a result, species with intraspecific variation in COI and ATP6 exhibited no genetic variation in ATP8. The pattern of genetic divergence in ATP8 well accorded with the pattern of species delimitation in the present taxonomic system. Thus, we conclude that the use of the ATP8 gene in DNA barcoding could improve the accuracy of species identification in the Eriosomatini and possibly other insect groups.

Microsatellite loci are increasingly used as markers in the human, animal and plant genomes. Being highly mutable, microsatellite regions are able to differentiate between related taxa, even at the level of individual isolates in a single species. Studies on mushroom population structure, gene flow and dispersal between natural and cultivated species have become central in breeding programmes and the knowledge of new polymorphic, codominant markers will be a promising avenue to exploit wild genetic resources. The molecular phylogeny in 50 different commercial cultivated strains of Pleurotus eryngii using PCR amplification with URP primers and mitochondrial microsatellite primer was studed. The sizes of the polymorphic fragments obtained were in the range of 200 to 2000 bp. RAPD analysis techniques were able to detect genetic variation among the tested strains. With these isolated PCR amplification with URP primers we intend to analyse the population structure of the P. eryngii species complex and investigate the structure of the basidiomycete genome which deserves. A few single-locus microsatellite markers have been isolated in Pleurotus eryngii and Pleurotus ferulae. This technique is useful in those species where microsatellite loci are rare in the mitochondria.

The first comprehensive cladistic analysis of Miridae, the plant bugs, based on ~3000 base pairs of mitochondrial (COI, 16S) and nuclear (18S, 28SD3) genes, is presented. For 105 taxa (101 Mirid species in 7 subfamilies and 11 tribes, and 4 outgroups) in 7 subfamilies and 11 tribes of Miridae, the combined dataset was analyzed using ML (maximum likelihood), BC (bayesian criteria) and MP (maximum parsimony). Clades recovered in all analyses, comprise 6 main groups: Cimicomorpha and Miridae; Phylinae; Mirinae (Eurystylus + Polymerus + Proboscidocoris + Taylorilygus + Stenodemini); Orthotylinae; Mirini (Adelphocoris group except “Apolygus complex”); Apolygus complex; Deraecorinae; Bryocorinae + Isometopinae + Cylapinae. Our results indicate 1) the monophyletic relationships of two subfamilies Phylinae and Deraeocorinae within the family Miridae; 2) the paraphyly of subfamily Mirinae. Phylogenetic relationships at the tribal or subfamily level are provided in comparison with the prior studies based on morphological data.

The flower bugs (Heteroptera: Anthocoridae) is usually known as biological control agents against various kinds of agricultural pests such as aphids, mites, thrips and so on. Since the classification of the family Anthocoridae has been controversial, the molecular phylogenetic study was conducted with 44 species including 6 outgroup taxa. Three genes, a total of 3277 bp of sequence data (nuclear 18S rDNA: 2022bp, 28S rDNA: 755bp, and mitochondrial 16S rDNA: 498bp), were analyzed using ML (maximum likelihood) and Bayesian methods, excluding MP (maximum parsimony) as the incongruence length difference (ILD) test has very low (0.001) P-values on all partition tests. Our results support the rank and monophyly of the family Lasiochilidae which was exclusively separated from the main clade of Anthocoridae proposed by Schuh and Stys (1991), and indicate the monophyletic relationships among tribes and genera within the family Anthocoridae. According to our results, the genus Amphiareus should be out of the tribe Dufourini and treated as the tribe level and The three genera, Blaptostethus, Scoloposcelis and Xylocoris should be placed to the family Lyctocoridae. We also propose the evolutionary theory of Anthocoridae based on their habitats, hunting behavior and the molecular phylogenetic results.