Phylogenetic Study of Haemonchus Species from Iran Based On Morpho-Molecular Characterization

Haemonchosis has a negative effect on the farming industry through­out the world, especially in the tropic and sub-tropic countries. The present study was carried out to differentiate Haemonchus species from its main hosts in Iran, including sheep, goat and camel. The identification took place based on the morphometrics of the spic­ules and molecular characters. Two hundred seventy adult male nematodes were collected from the abomasums of different ruminants (90 samples from each ani­mal) at the slaughterhouses from different localities in Iran. Samples were morphologi­cally identified according to the spicules’ morphometric measurements. In the section on molecular study, 10 samples of each Haemonchus isolates were genet­ically examined. A simple PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assay of the second internal transcribed spacer of ribosomal DNA (ITS2-rDNA) were described to confirm the PCR results. PCR-RFLP profile obtained from the restriction enzyme HPa1 in H. contor­tus and H. longistipes indicated 1 (278 bp) and 2 (113 and 135 bp) different frag­ments, respectively. The morphological parameters clearly distinguish H. contortus from H. longistipes. Moreover, regarding the ITS2-rDNA, sequences of 295 bp and 314 bp were obtained from H. contortus and H. longistipes, respectively. The genotypic results are in agreement with the phenotypic findings of both species.