Polymorphism Among and Within Populations of Ceratitis capitata Wiedemann (Diptera: Tephritidae) in the Jordan Valley and Southern Syria

A laboratory study was initiated to assess levels of genetic variations of Ceratitis capitata Wiedemann (Diptera: Tephritidae) using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) method. 47 individuals of medfly were collected from six locations in the Jordan Valley and Southern Syria. Of 18 arbitrary primers screened, 6 were found to generate reproducible bands. Nei’s coefficient of genetic distance ranged from 0.10 to 0.57 with an overall mean genetic distance of 0.39. This indicates that 39% of the tested medflies vary from the mean of their genetic constitution. The lowest distance was recorded in Mazrahit Bait Jen population (0.10), while the highest distance was recorded in South Shuna (0.57). Results based on RAPD product data revealed that populations of Ceratitis capitata with common genomes tend to cluster together in the same group. Using 6 primers for RAPD analysis showed an average of 84% and 85.2% reproducibility for females and males, respectively. This indicates that RAPD method is a reliable approach for exploring genetic variation within and among medfly populations