Author(s)

Mohammad Ali Al-Deeb¹, Mohamed Rizk Enan^1,2

¹Biology Department, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, UAE.
²Agricultural Research Center, Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute, Giza, Egypt.

Hyalomma dromedarii ticks are important disease vectors to camels in the UAE and worldwide. Ticks can be identified using DNA-based techniques. In addition, such techniques could be utilized to study the intraspecific genetic diversity in tick populations. In this study, the genetic diversity of four H. dromedarii populations was investigated using mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene and randomly amplified polymorphic DNA polymerase chain reaction (RAPD-PCR). The results showed that both of the aforementioned techniques produced similar grouping patterns. Moreover, they revealed that the four tick populations had high levels of genetic similarity. However, one population was slightly different from the three other populations. The current study demonstrated that H. dromedarii ticks in the UAE are very similar at the genetic level and that investigating more locations and screening larger numbers of ticks could reveal larger genetic differences.

Camel Tick, Genetic Diversity, COI Gene, RAPD-PCR, Hyalomma dromedarii

Al-Deeb, M. and Enan, M. (2018) Genetic Diversity in the Camel Tick Hyalomma dromedarii (Acari: Ixodidae) Based on Mitochondrial Cytochrome c Oxidase Subunit I (COI) and Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA Polymerase Chain Reaction (RAPD-PCR). Advances in Entomology, 6, 285-294. doi: 10.4236/ae.2018.64021.