title: Identification of bloodmeals in haematophagous Diptera by cytochrome B heteroduplex analysis.
abstract: We developed a DNA assay for bloodmeal identification in haematophagous insects. Specific host cytochrome B gene sequences were amplified by PCR and classified on the basis of their mobility in a heteroduplex assay. In the blackfly Simulium damnosum s.l. (Diptera: Simuliidae), human cytochrome B DNA sequences were identifiable up to 3 days following ingestion of the bloodmeal. In the tsetse Glossina palpalis (Diptera: Glossinidae) collected from tsetse traps in Ivory Coast, bloodmeals were identified as taken from domestic pigs on the basis of their heteroduplex pattern and DNA sequence. Evidently the cytochrome B sequence shows sufficient interspecific variation to distinguish between mammalian host samples, while exhibiting minimal intraspecific variation. The stability of DNA in bloodmeals, for several days post-ingestion by haematophagous insects, allows PCR-HDA assays to be used reliably for host identification.
authors.affiliation: Division of Geographic Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 35294-2170, USA.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Boakye
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Truc
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Merriweather
authors.forename: T R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Unnasch
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001769:Blood; D002417:Cattle; D003465:Culex; D003573:Cytochrome b Group / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D009692:Nucleic Acid Heteroduplexes; D016205:Sigmodontinae; D012843:Simuliidae; D013552:Swine; D014370:Tsetse Flies
chemical_list: D003573:Cytochrome b Group; D009692:Nucleic Acid Heteroduplexes