Abstract: To clarify the levels of genetic diversity and search population rapid identification method of the cabbage beetle Colaphellus bowringi Baly, seven restriction endonucleases were used to analyze the amplified products of mtDNA COⅠ gene in four populations of Colaphellus bowringi, i.e., Longnan population of Jiangxi, Xiushui population of Jiangxi, Tai'an population of Shandong and Harbin population of Heilongjiang in China. The results showed that AseⅠ, MboⅠ, NlaⅢ and RsaⅠdid not produce restriction fragment-length polymorphism among C. bowringi populations. The polymorphism was detected among the four populations with AluⅠ and DraⅠ. However, the restriction fragment-length polymorphism was found either among four populations or within Tai’an population of Shandong with HaeⅢ. Four haplotypes were found in all individuals. Obviously, the populations could be distinguished with unique haplotypes. According to the proportion of restriction fragments shared, the genetic distances among the four populations were calculated with POPGEN3.2, and a cladogram was produced with MEGA3.1. The results indicated that the genetic distance of C. bowringi among four geographic populations did not match with their geographic distance, neither their genetic variance with their diapause variance. We so conclude that PCR-RFLP analysis of mtDNA COⅠ gene can be used to identify different geographic populations of C. bowringi.

Key words: Colaphellus bowringi, geographic population, genetic distance, genetic diversity, mtDNA, COⅠ gene, PCR-RFLP