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Genetic Structure Of Ixodes Scapularis Say 1821 (Acari: Ixodidae), The Blacklegged Tick, By Microsatellite Analysis, John Ludwig

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) is the subject of intense research due to its economic importance from being a vector of several diseases. Previous studies have examined its taxonomic status and more recently, its genetic structure. This study embarked upon resolving the questions surrounding the genetic structuring of the tick, by using different molecular markers. Molecular data were first phylogenetically analyzed by using four different mitochondrial and nuclear markers (12SrDNA n=483, Dloop n=432, ITS2 n=156, Actin n=117). A Bayesian tree was inferred from the concatenated mitochondrial dataset, whereas nuclear gene markers were found to be uninformative. Nine microsatellites …