Molecular study of six strains of Cochliomyia hominivorax (Coquerel) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) and Cochliomyia macellaria

Introduction. The cattle borer worm, Cochliomyia hominivorax (Coquerel), is an economically important pest for warm-blooded animals, mainly cattle. Objective. Molecularly characterize six strains of Cochliomyia hominivorax (Coquerel) and the Cochliomyia macellaria species using the mtDNA sequences. Materials and methods. The study was conducted during 2006 and 2007, using six strains from colonies of Mexico, Panama, and Costa Rica, located in the Molecular Biology Laboratory of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama. Three out of six primers were optimized and evaluated, using the cyclic sequencing method. Parsimonia, NJ (Neighbor-Joining), Maximum Likelihood, and Bayesian analyzes were performed to establish the phylogenetic relationships between the strains. Three primers used for C. hominivorax were evaluated for C. macellaria. Results. The regions of the mitochondrial genome NADH4-tRNA-NADH5 were obtained. All the analyzes showed the same topology forming four defined clades. The first formed by the strains from Oaxaca and Quintana Roo, the second by the strains from Chiapas, the third by the strains from Costa Rica and Panama, and the fourth by the population from Brazil, obtained from GenBank. In C. macellaria two primers were able to amplify the NADH4 region and one NADH5 region. Conclusion. The amplifications obtained in this research provide information to continue the molecular studies between the species of C. macellaria and C. hominivorax; also to identify the geographical origin of the strains.