Boutellis A., Bitam I., Fekir K., Mana N., Raoult Didier. (2015). Evidence that clade A and clade B head lice live in sympatry and recombine in Algeria. Medical and Veterinary Entomology, 29 (1), p. 94-98. ISSN 0269-283X.
Titre du document
Evidence that clade A and clade B head lice live in sympatry and recombine in Algeria
Boutellis A., Bitam I., Fekir K., Mana N., Raoult Didier
Source
Medical and Veterinary Entomology, 2015,
29 (1), p. 94-98 ISSN 0269-283X
Pediculus humanusL. (Psocodea: Pediculidae) can be characterized into three deeply divergent lineages (clades) based on mitochondrial DNA. Clade A consists of both head lice and clothing lice and is distributed worldwide. Clade B consists of head lice only and is mainly found in North and Central America, and in western Europe and Australia. Clade C, which consists only of head lice, is found in Ethiopia, Nepal and Senegal. Twenty-six head lice collected from pupils at different elementary schools in two localities in Algiers (Algeria) were analysed using molecular methods for genotyping lice (cytochrome b and the multi-spacer typing (MST) method. For the first time, we found clade B head lice in Africa living in sympatry with clade A head lice. The phylogenetic analysis of the concatenated sequences of these populations of head lice showed that clade A and clade B head lice had recombined, suggesting that interbreeding occurs when lice live in sympatry.
