Molecular identification of leafhopper potential vectors of chickpea stunt using the coi sequences

Leafhoppers are important agricultural pests and potential vectors of several important virus and phytoplasma diseases all over the world. The correct taxonomic identity of an insect is important and needs both the morphological and molecular identification. In a recent survey, a severe incidence of different leafhoppers species feeding in chickpea fields of Andhra Pradesh and Delhi states of India was observed. Amrasca biguttula, Emposca sp., Orosius albicinctus and Exitianus indicus were identified as major leafhoppers species in chickpea fields on the basis of morphological features and multiple sequence alignment of the COI gene. These leafhoppers species were also found positive by specific PCR analyses for chickpea chlorotic dwarf virus and peanut witches’ broom phytoplasma associated with the chickpea stunt disease. These results suggest that all the identified leafhopper species may be potential vectors either for the virus and/or for phytoplasmas. Transmission experiments are necessary to confirm this assumption.