Insect And Host Plant Interactions An Evolutionary Genomics Phytochemical And Insilico Approach For Assessing Novel Interaction Of The Pest Henosepilachna Vigintioctopunctata

Abstract

Pest management strategies in vegetable cultivation require comprehensive assessment and continuous monitoring. High incidences of pests in vegetable crops influence high pesticide usage which indiscriminately creates resistance in targeted pests. Such a scenario was seen in H. vigintioctopunctata which emerged as a major potential drawback in eggplant cultivation. The integration of traditional and molecular techniques proved to be newlineessential in identifying the cryptic species, host plant phylogeny, evolutionary lineages, genetic variations, surveillance and provided a potential way for unified global pest detection by using the nucleotide sequence information in databases. Micro-evolutionary changes due to pesticides and host shifts induce selective pressures that alter the functional behavior of the pest. This was rightly evidenced by the genetic variations analyzed in the haplotypes of H. vigintioctopunctata which exhibited high intra-population population among the sympatric species. The specific host interaction of H. vigintioctopunctata with S. melongena was chiefly due to the plant metabolite, Methyl Linolenate which was a mandatory requirement to the beetle for metamorphosis. The docking studies also confirmed this interaction with the strong stability and association with Ecdysone protein receptor. Thus, the present study rightly pointed out the candidate clue for the mitigation of this pests in future by integrated pest control strategies. newlinei) Major Objectives newlineand#61656; To evaluate the knowledge, perception, incidence of insect pests and agricultural practices among the farmers growing vegetables in selected areas of Coimbatore region. newlineand#61656; To determine the molecular taxonomic analysis using the mitochondrial gene, Cytochrome C Oxidase subunit I to access accurate taxonomy newlineand#61656; To perform molecular phylogenetic analysis to study the evolutionary lineage of the selected pests from vegetable crops. newlineand#61656; To evaluate the genetic deviation and haplotype network analysis in geographically close populations of the potential