The New World Screwworm (NWS), Cochliomyia hominivorax, is one of the most important parasitic insect pests causing invasive myiasis in livestock. Due to the substantial economic losses caused by this pest, an international effort has been involved in the program for the eradication of NWS from endemic areas and the prevention and rapid response to invasions into screwworm-free areas. To investigate specific evolutionary patterns of evolution, enhance the efficiency of the implementation of the eradication program and reduce risk associated with the introduction into new areas it is necessary to determine the genetic variability and population structure of the NWS across its current geographic distribution. The aim of this work was to develop an (AC)n enriched genomic library for the NWS in order to obtain microsatellite markers. Genomic DNA extracted from colony-bred pupae was digested with Sau3AI and fragments of 200-800bp were recovered and linked to oligonucleotide adapters. Fragments containing AC repeats were selected by hybridization to biotinilated oligonucleotides bound to magnetic beads. This fraction was used to construct a small insert genomic library enriched for the motif poli-AC/TG. We are currently screening this library for SSR-containing clones. Our goal is to develop a set of a minimum of 10 SSR based markers providing loci with expected heterozygosity higher than 0.7. The development of microsatellite markers opens a new perspective for the generation of fundamental population genetic data of NWS from South America populations and for monitoring the expansions of the pest into screwworm-free areas. Financial support: FAPESP and CNPq.
Species 1: Diptera Calliphoridae Cochliomyia hominivorax (New World screwworm, primary screwworm)
Keywords: microsatellites, population genetics
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