Effects of storage conditions and digestion time on DNA amplification of biting midge (Culicoides) blood meals.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Molecular analysis of blood meals is increasingly used to identify the hosts of biting insects such as midges and mosquitoes. Successful host identification depends on the availability of sufficient host DNA template for PCR amplification, making it important to understand how amplification success changes under different storage conditions and with different durations of blood meal digestion within the insect gut before being placed into the storage medium.

Method

We characterised and compared the digestion profile of two species of Culicoides over a 96-h period using a novel set of general vertebrate primers targeting the 16S rRNA gene. A set number of individuals from each species were killed over 13 time points post-blood feeding and preserved in 95% ethanol.

SUBMITTER: Bellekom B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9837887 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature