Biomphalaria molluscs (Gastropoda: Planorbidae) in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Abstract

The present study was aimed at characterising Biomphalaria species using both morphological and molecular (PCR-RFLP)

Fingerprint of Biomphalaria arabica, the intermediate host of Schistosoma mansoni in Saudi Arabia, using RAPD-PCR

“…Various molecular approaches have been investigated for the identification and characterization of fresh water snail including: the examination of variation in ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes, as determined by conventional restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis and by PCR-RFLP of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS); the use of randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPDs) and sequence analysis of mitochondrial genes (El-Khayat et al, 2008;Hanelt et al, 2008;Ittiprasert et al, 2010;Lockyer et al, 2007;Pepe et al, 2009;Rollinson et al, 1998). The rRNA gene complex is common to all eukaryotes and is well suited for taxonomic studies as it contains regions which evolve at different rates, thus permitting analysis of relationships over a wide taxonomic level.…”

Schistosomiasis in Southern Brazil 17 years after the confirmation of the first autochthonous case

“…New disease cases and the distribution of Biomphalaria were then investigated in Esteio (4) (11) (12) . Given this new scenario, researchers and governmental institutions proposed health monitoring measures (9) , such as copro-parasitological examination in populations at risk, treatment of patients infected with S. mansoni, a malacological survey in the metropolitan region, sanitary engineering measures, staff training for research, and mandatory reporting of cases of schistosomiasis.…”

“…Despite the occurrence of single cases, which were not likely autochthonous, in each locality, the identifi cation of schistosomiasis cases far from the original focus (Esteio) are particularly interesting because there is no record of B. glabrata in these locations. Considering that the maintenance of S. mansoni is mainly by B. tenagophila in the state of SC (8) (15) and this species in RS has proven to be resistant to S. mansoni (12) , the schistosomiasis cases in Northern RS would have occurred through the introduction of susceptible B. tenagophila populations from SC. However, this hypothesis has yet to be tested.…”

Molecular studies in Brazilian malacology: Tools, trends and perspectives

“…Thus, PCR-RFLP of the Internal Transcribed Spacer of the rDNA (ITS -which includes the 5.8S rDNA gene together with the flanking ITS1 and ITS2 spacers) was employed in the identification of 10 Brazilian species of Biomphalaria (Vidigal et al, , 2000a, of other South American and Cuban species of the same genus (Caldeira et al, 2000;Vidigal et al, 2001;Velásquez et al, 2002) and of morphologically similar species in the B. straminea and B. tenagophila complexes (Caldeira et al, 1998;Spatz et al, 1999), among others (Spatz et al, 2000). B. tenagophila guaibensis Paraense, 1984, B. oligoza Paraense, 1974and B. peregrina (Orbigny, 1835 of several localities in the state of Rio Grande do Sul were also identified using this technique (Pepe et al, 2009). Later, the molecular characterization of B. amazonica Paraense 1966 and B. cousini Paraense, 1966 was performed, and B. cousini was recorded in Brazil for the first time on the basis of PCR-RFLP of the ITS region, sequences of the 16S and ITS2 regions and morphology (Teodoro et al, 2010).…”