Aquaculture Research Unit, School of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Limpopo, Private Bag X1106, Sovenga, 0727, South Africa
*(e-mail : gavin.geldenhuys@ul.ac.za)
Online published on 13 February, 2025.
Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) has become a serious menace to the sustainable production of tomatoes in Kenya. Investigating the genetic diversity, geographical distribution, and community structure of T. absoluta from various locations utilizing the Cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) of the mtDNA gene information available on NCBI databases. Based on the COI of mtDNA, the haplotype analysis revealed six haplotypes, which displayed low nucleotide (π = 0.00021) diversity. In contrast, haplotype diversity (Hd) was 0.05, and the number of segregating sites (S) was 13. The result showed that the tomato leaf miner population from Central Kenya had high variability in haplotype supported by the haplotype network. Tajima (D) and Fu's Fs were found to be negative (P > 0.05), whereas the overall FST value was 0.00077 (P > 0.001). In conclusion, genetic analysis showed there was no high variation amongst population from different locations.
Genetic analysis, Haplotype diversity, Mitochondrial DNA, Tuta absoluta
