Abstract

4.Molecular phylogeny of three variable size juvenile isolates of Steinernema abbasi (Rhabditida: Steinernematidae) from the western part of Uttar Pradesh, India by the application of conserved genes sequence analyses
Istkhar, Ashok Kumar Chaubey and Sushil K. Upadhyay
Three isolates of Steinernema sp. (Nematoda: Steinernematidae) named as CS3, CS6 and CS21 were recovered by Galleria baiting technique from soil samples collected from Saharanpur district of western part of Uttar Pradesh, India. The worms were characterized as member of bicornutum group due to the presence of two horn-like cephalic structures in 3rd stage infective juveniles (IJs). The morphometric comparative analyses with earlier described nine bicornutum group species reflected that the isolated specimens are closer to Steinernema abbasi and S. thermophilum. However, the results obtained through the molecular phylogeny based on the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 gene sequence analyses and numerical applications were proved that these newer worms were similar to S. abbasi but not identical. Variations within the discovered isolates with the validated species were hypothetical to be due to the influence of extrinsic or environmental factors.