Date

2021

Degree

Doctor of Veterinary Medicine

College

College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Remil L. Galay, Billy P. Divina

Abstract

Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus, commonly known as the tropical cattle tick, is a major blood-sucking ectoparasite of cattle that greatly affects the cattle industry. The real identity of the cattle tick in the Philippines is not yet elucidated because this species is believed to be complex. The samples used in this study were pre-collected adult, partially fed female ticks morphologically identified as R. microplus, from the cattle-producing provinces of Luzon, Philippines: Isabela, Cagayan, Rizal, Laguna, Batangas, Pangasinan, Ilocos Norte, and Quezon. The cattle ticks were characterized through amplification and sequence analysis of the cytochrome oxidase 1 (cox1). Genetic characterization of the cattle tick was done by comparing the sequence identity of R. microplus tick among the isolates from selected provinces of Luzon, Philippines and among isolates from other countries, and construction of a neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree. Analyses revealed the hidden diversity of the cattle ticks, providing evidence that the isolates from these provinces belong to clades A and C, in contrast to previous studies that only clade A ticks are present in the country. To the author’s knowledge, this study provided the first evidence on genetic diversity of R. microplus in the country. This study implicates the importance to monitor the dispersion of these ticks, which may be related to tick control, particularly on acaricide resistance.

Language

English

Location

UPLB College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM)

Notes

Best Thesis in Ruminants, 2021

Document Type

Thesis

Download

Share

COinS