Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T09:41:19.338Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A portable allozyme electrophoresis kit used to identify members of the Simulium damnosum Theobald complex (Diptera: Simuliidae) in the field

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

M. C. Thomson
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Entomology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Place, Liverpool L3 5QA, UK
J. B. Davies
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Entomology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Place, Liverpool L3 5QA, UK
M. D. Wilson
Affiliation:
Onchocerciasis Control Programme, B.P. 549, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Abstract

A cheap power pack that could be run off a 12-V car battery was constructed using a 12–250–V DC-DC converter. The power pack is small and light and can be used to run a Helena cellulose acetate electrophoresis system away from a mains electricity supply. The system was used sucessfully to identify adults of the Simulium damnosum Theobald complex in a field laboratory in northern Sierra Leone.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Davies, J. B., Thomson, M. C. & Beech-Garwood, P. A. (1988). Morphological identification of Simulium yahense and S. squamosum in the south of Sierra Leone confirmed by enzyme electrophoresis.—Trans. R. Soc. trop. Med. Hyg. 82, 643.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fryauff, D. & Trpis, M. (1986). Identification of larval and adult Simulium yahense and Simulium sanctipauli based on species-specific enzyme markers and their distribution in different breeding habitats in central Liberia.—Am. J. trop. Med. Hyg. 35, 12181230.Google Scholar
Garms, R. & Cheke, R. A. (1985). Infections with Onchocerca volvulus in different members of the Simulium damnosum complex in Togo and Benin.—Z. angew. Zool. 72, 479495.Google Scholar
Garms, R. & Zillman, U. (1984). Morphological identification of Simulium sanctipauli and S. yahense in Liberia and comparison of results with those of enzyme electrophoresis.—Tropenmed. & Parasitol. 35, 217220.Google Scholar
Kreutzer, R. D. & Christensen, H. A. (1980). Characterization of Leishmania spp. by isozyme electrophoresis.—Am. J. trop. Med. Hyg. 29, 199208.Google Scholar
Menken, S. B. J. & Ulenberg, S. A. (1987). Biochemical characters in agricultural entomology.—Ag. Zool. Rev. 2, 305360.Google Scholar
Meredith, S. E. O. & Townson, H. (1981). Enzymes for species identification in the Simulium damnosum complex from West Africa.—Tropenmed. & Parasitol. 32, 123128.Google ScholarPubMed
Miles, S. J. (1978). Enzyme variation in the Anopheles gambiae Giles group of species (Diptera: Culicidae).—Bull. ent. Res. 68, 8596.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Post, R. J. (1986). The cytotaxonomy of Simulium sanctipauli and Simulium soubrense (Diptera: Simuliidae).—Genetica 69, 191207.Google Scholar
Post, R. J. & Crosskey, R. W. (1985). The distribution of the Simulium damnosum complex in Sierra Leone.—Ann. trop. Med. Parasit. 79, 169194.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Philippon, B. (1987). Problems in epidemiology and control of West Africa onchocerciasis.—pp. 363373in Ke, Chung Kim. & Merritt, R. W. (Eds). Blackflies—ecology, population management and annotated world list.—521 pp. Pennsylvania State Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Richardson, B. J., Baverstock, P. R. & Adams, M. (1986). Allozyme electrophoresis—a handbook for animal systematics and population studies.—410 pp. Sydney, Academic Press.Google Scholar
Service, M. W. (1988). New tools for old taxonomic problems in bloodsucking insects.—pp. 325345in Service, M. W. (Ed.). Biosystematics of haematophagous insects.—363 pp. Oxford, Clarendon Press. (Systematics Association Special Volume 37.)Google Scholar
Walsh, J. F., Davies, J. B., Le Berre, R. & Garms, R. (1978). Standardization of criteria for assessing the effect of Simulium control in onchocerciasis control programmes.—Trans. R. Soc. trop. Med. Hyg. 72, 675676.Google Scholar