Paternal leakage and mtDNA heteroplasmy in Rhipicephalus spp. ticks.

ABSTRACT: Paternal leakage of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and heteroplasmy have been recently described in several animal species. In arthropods, by searching in the Scopus database, we found only 23 documented cases of paternal leakage. Therefore, although arthropods represent a large fraction of animal biodiversity, this phenomenon has been investigated only in a paucity of species in this phylum, thus preventing a reliable estimate of its frequency. Here, we investigated the occurrence of paternal leakage and mtDNA heteroplasmy in ticks belonging to one of the most significant tick species complexes, the so-called Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato. By developing a multiplex allele-specific PCR assay targeting a fragment of the 12S rRNA ribosomal region of the mtDNA, we showed the occurrence of pa

SUBMITTER: Mastrantonio V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6365633 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature