Morpho-molecular characterization of golden potato cyst nematode population from Bauko, Mountain Province, Philippines

The golden potato cyst nematode, Globodera rostochiensis (Wollenweber, 1923) Behren, is an economically important pest of potatoes worldwide. In the Philippines, although potato cultivation in the northern part of Luzon has been reported to be plagued by this nematode, no intensive study on its characterization has been done yet. In this study, morphological and molecular analyses were employed to characterize the golden potato cyst nematode present in the country, particularly those collected from Bauko, Mt. Province. Morphological verification through perineal region analysis showed a circumfenestrate vulval and a non-fenestrate anal region, typical of Globodera spp. Morphometrics of second-stage juveniles is also consistently identified with published descriptions of Globodera rostochiensis including the type specimen. Here, the DNA barcodes based on the ITS rDNA, 28S rDNA, and COI gene of the local population of G. rostochiensis were generated. Identity mining of the barcode sequences revealed an identical match to deposited ITS1, 28S, and COI gene sequences of G. rostochiensis with GenBank accession numbers, LC310801.1, MK311329.1, and MT240262.1, respectively. The generated barcode sequences from this study were deposited in NCBI GenBank Database with accession numbers ON739171-ON739173 for ITS, ON739174-ON739176 for 28S, and OQ195126-OQ195128 for COI. Phylogenetic analyses based on three markers yielded phylograms that grouped BMP isolates with other G. rostochiensis accessions in one clade. This study is the first to generate comprehensive morphological data and DNA barcodes for G. rostochiensis in the Philippines.