%0 Journal Article
%T A panel of microsatellite markers to discriminate and study interactions between Haemonchus contortus and Haemonchus placei.
%A Santos MC
%A Redman E
%A Amarante MRV
%A Gilleard JS
%A Amarante AFT
%J Vet Parasitol
%V 244
%N 0
%D Sep 2017 15
%M 28917321
%F 2.821
%R 10.1016/j.vetpar.2017.07.011
%X Haemonchus contortus and Haemonchus placei are two closely related economically important parasites of ruminants. Their close morphological similarity, common occurrence as co-infections and ability to hybridize makes definitive diagnosis and epidemiological studies in field populations challenging. In this paper, we describe the development of a panel of microsatellite markers that can be used to discriminate and study the genetics of these two parasite species in co-infections and mixed field populations. We have identified two additional microsatellites (Hp52 and Hp53), in addition to three previously reported microsatellites (Hcms3561, Hcms53265 and Hcms36) that have a discrete set of alleles between the two species. Multilocus genotyping of worms with this 5 marker panel from 3 geographically diverse H. placei isolates and 4 geographically diverse H. contortus populations allows unambiguous species assignment of individual worms. This panel of markers should provide a valuable resource in studying the biology and epidemiology of these important ruminant parasite species in the field.