Molecular Characterization and Phylogenetic Analyses of Oestrus ovis Larvae Causing Human Naso-pharyngeal Myiasis Based on CO1 Barcode Sequences.

OBJECTIVE

The identification and molecular characterization of the bot fly larvae from an infected human with naso-pharyngeal myiasis in Turkey were aimed in this study.

METHODS

A total of 8 bot fly larvae from a 49-year-old woman with naso-pharyngeal infection in Adana province constituted the materials of this study. Morphological identification was performed on the larvae according to described keys. The barcode region of the CO1 gene from the genomic DNA extracts of the larvae was amplified and sequence analyses were utilized. Haplotype and genetic distance analyses were performed in CO1 sequences and a phylogenetic tree was built revealing phylogenetic relationships.

RESULTS

All bot fly larvae were identified as second stage larvae of Oestrus ovis in terms of morphologic characteristics. There was no polymorphism among the CO1 sequences of all isolates leading to detection of a single novel haplotype. The newly characterized haplotype in this study clustered with the O. ovis haplotypes from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Brazil, and Iran in a monophyletic clade with an overall identity of 99.5%. Interspecific genetic differences among the subfamilies of Oestridae were in the range of 19.8% to 30.8%.

CONCLUSION

This study has provided the first molecular characterization data on O. ovis larvae from an accidental human host in Turkey based on CO1 barcode sequences.