Medical and Veterinary Entomology (2001) 15, 183-188

P. Litjens, A.C. Lessinger and A.M. Lima De Azeredo-Espin (2001)
Characterization of the screwworm flies Cochliomyia hominivorax and Cochliomyia macellaria by PCR-RFLP of mitochondrial DNA
Medical and Veterinary Entomology 15 (2), 183-188
Abstract: The primary screwworm fly Cochliomyia hominivorax (Coquerel) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) is one of the most important insect pests of livestock in neotropical regions, whereas Cochliomyia macellaria (Fabricius) (Diptera: Calliphoridae), the secondary screwworm, is of medical and sanitary importance because of its role in the dissemination of pathogens. These two species share morphological similarities and both may occur in the same myiasis, but in different developmental stages. In this work, the usefulness of PCR-RFLP (polymerase chain reaction – restriction fragment length polymorphism) of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) for the unambiguous identification of C. hominivorax and C. macellaria was investigated. Two specific regions of mtDNA were amplified: 870 bp from Cytochrome oxidase subunit I and 2100 bp from the A + T rich/12S region from C. hominivorax and C. macellaria specimens from different areas of Brazil. Reliable species-specific PCR-RFLP results were obtained for the CO I region and the A + T rich/12S region using the restriction enzymes Dra I and Ssp I. These results confirm the conservation of CO I diagnostic restriction sites previously reported and demonstrate the usefulness of the control region sequences as an efficient marker for PCR-RFLP identification of Brazilian screwworm flies. The occurrences of intraspecific polymorphic patterns are discussed based on frequencies and potential conflicts for species identification. PCR-RFLP provides a potentially useful method for identifying samples from the areas where these species are monitored.
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Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Ana Maria L. Azeredo-Espin, Ana Cláudia Lessinger

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
identification/taxonomy

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Cochliomyia hominivorax
	Cochliomyia macellaria