Microsatellite marker analysis of the genetic diversity of Oedaleus asiaticus (Orthoptera: Acrididae) populations in Inner Mongolia, northern China

Oedaleus asiaticus Bei-Bienko is one of the major pest insects in the grasslands and agropastoral ecotone in North China. By using 8 microsatellite primer pairs, the genetic diversities of 15 geographic populations of O. asiaticus in Inner Mongolia, northern China were analyzed in order to evaluate the genetic variability within populations and genetic differentiation among populations of O. asiaticus at the molecular level. The results showed that the effective number of alleles was 3.4517 - 13.2881, the polymorphic information content was 0.5601 - 0.8563 and the Shannon's diversity index was 0.7018 - 4.1789. The mean expected heterozygosity of the 15 populations was 0.6836, with the Nei's expected heterozygosity of 0.5303 - 0.6513 and genetic distance of 0.1092 - 0.4235. The mean fixation index (Fst) and the mean gene flow (Nm) were 0.1612 and 1.6164, respectively. The 8 microsatellite loci selected are of high polymorphism, this grasshopper keeps a high genetic differentiation and moderate gene flow among