Author = Karim Mardani

Molecular analysis of pyrethroid resistance in Cimex hemipterus (Hemiptera: Cimicidae) collected from different parts of Iran

Volume 11, Issue 3, Summer 2020, Pages 243-248

Awat Samiei, Mousa Tavassoli, Karim Mardani

Abstract The present study was aimed to assess the bedbugs susceptibility to pyrethroid insecticides using molecular analysis. With the aid of pest control companies, adult bedbugs were collected from various places such as hotels, residential houses, and industrial buildings in seven cities highly crowded with domestic and foreign tourists in Iran from May 2016 to August 2017. Bedbugs were colonized in the laboratory to evaluate their resistance to pyrethroid using insecticide resistance bioassay. Genomic DNA was extracted from susceptible and resistant bedbugs. At first, specie specific primers targeting cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene was performed to confirm Cimex hemipterus species. Then, kdr-like gene was examined for point mutation using PCR and nucleotide sequencing. Bioassay showed that 11 out of 35 examined bedbugs were resistant to pyrethroids (31.43%; 95.00% confidence interval: 29.48-33.08%). The DNA sequencing showed that all examined bedbugs collected from Tehran province had homozygous V419L kdr-like gene mutations. The level of pyrethroid resistance found in the collected bugs from Tehran province indicated that this phenomenon has already been prevailed in the site and prompts the need to reevaluate the large use of pyrethroids to control the bedbugs.

Epidemiology

Molecular identification and phylogenetic analysis of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium spp. isolated from gut of honeybees (Apis mellifera) from West Azerbaijan, Iran

Volume 7, Issue 4, December 2016, Pages 287-294

Mohammad Farouq Sharifpour, Karim Mardani, Abdulghaffar Ownagh

Abstract Polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and phylogenetic analysis were used for molecular identification of lactic acid bacteria (LABs) isolated from Apis mellifera. Eighteen honeybee workers were collected from three different apiaries in West Azerbaijan. LABs from the gut of honeybees were isolated and cultured using routine biochemical procedures. Genomic DNA was extracted from LABs and a fragment of 1540 bp in size of 16S rRNA gene was amplified. PCR products were digested using HinfI endonuclease and digested products with different RFLP patterns were subjected to nucleotide sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. The results revealed that Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria spp. are were the most abundant LABs in honeybee gut. Phylogenetic analysis showed that both Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium were closely clustered with high similarity percentage with the same bacteria isolated from honeybees’ gut elsewhere. It was concluded that LABs isolated from honeybees had low sequence divergence in comparison with LABs isolated from other sources such as dairy products.