Vertebrate host specificity of wild-caught blackflies revealed by mitochondrial DNA in blood.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Malmqvist B
PROVIDER: S-EPMC1810009 | biostudies-other | 2004 May
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
Publications
Vertebrate host specificity of wild-caught blackflies revealed by mitochondrial DNA in blood.
Malmqvist Björn B Strasevicius Darius D Hellgren Olof O Adler Peter H PH Bensch Staffan S
Proceedings. Biological sciences 20040501
Blood-feeding blackflies (Diptera: Simuliidae) transmit pathogens, harass vertebrate hosts and may cause lethal injuries in attacked victims, but with traditional methods it has proved difficult to identify their hosts. By matching mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences in blood collected from engorged blackflies with stored sequences in the GenBank database, relationships between 17 blackfly species and 25 species of vertebrate hosts were revealed. Our results demonstrate a predominance of large h ...[more]
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