Molecular identification and phylogenetic analysis of Pulex irritans in different regions of Iran

The present study was conducted to perform a molecular comparison of Pulex irritans based on the mitochondrial genome in four different climatic regions including the Caspian Sea region, a mountainous region, Persian Gulf region,  and the Central Desert region, and based on nuclear ribosome genome in the west and northwestern Iran. A total of 1937 adult flea samples were collected including 1019 P. irritans (52.61%) and 918 Ctenocephalides canis (47.39%) from various hosts including humans (14.1%), sheep (22%), goats (33.5%), dogs (25.6%) and houses (6.7%) between April 2018 and May 2019. The samples collected from different hosts had similar morphological characteristics. However, there were slight differences based on mitochondrial markers and nuclear ribosomal markers in the study populations. The results from the phylogenetic tree based on three nuclear ribosome and mitochondrial markers showed that despite the slight differences in this sequence of different hosts and cities, all samples from different regions are in the same phylogeny. The results of ribosomal and mitochondrial genome analysis showed that these pieces are useful for demonstrating intraspecific similarity, and differentiation at species level and genus of P. irritans.