Skripsi
IDENTIFIKASI MOLEKULER BAKTERI ENTOMOPATOGEN YANG DITEMUKAN PADA ULAT KANTUNG DI PERKEBUNAN KELAPA SAWIT
Validation of metagenomic analysis results through molecular identification is important to ensure that the detected entomopathogenic bacteria truly have potential as biological control agents. The objective of this research is to molecularly identify entomopathogenic bacteria in bagworms based on metagenomic data to confirm bacterial species. Bacterial samples were collected at the Bacteriology Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, Sriwijaya University. The research method using DNA barcoding includes DNA extraction, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), electrophoresis, and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The effectiveness of the bacteria was tested against Spodoptera litura larvae. Phylogenetic analysis was performed using MEGA 11.0, DNA sequences were compared via BLAST against NCBI GenBank for similarity analysis, and the percentage of larval mortality was analyzed using ANOVA, followed by the Honest Significant Difference (HSD) test. The 1500 bp 16S rRNA gene was analyzed using BLAST, showing that the PP bacterial isolate was similar to Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, the MC isolate was similar to Mammaliicoccus sciuri, and the MP isolate was similar to Bacillus thuringiensis. It was concluded that molecular identification using single gene sequencing was effective in identifying entomopathogenic bacteria of bagworms and had the potential as biological control agents.