Identification of Biomphalaria havanensis and Biomphalaria obstructa populations from Cuba using polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism of the ribosomal RNA intergenic spacer

Diagnostic of Biomphalaria snails and Schistosoma mansoni: DNA obtained from traces of shell organic materials

“…The methodology based on PCR-RFLP, using the ITS region of rDNA, was successfully used in order to define species-specific patterns of Neotropical Biomphalaria snails and in study of species usually difficult to be identified by morphological techniques , 2001, Caldeira et al 1998, Spatz et al 1999. It is known that the amplification of such region generates a fragment of 1300 bp, however, in the present study, a shorter region was used, once target DNA could be degraded.…”

Schistosome/mollusk: genetic compatibility

“…The understanding of the genetic basis for schistosome resistance/or susceptibility in these snail species is especially important, because schistosome eradication programs may benefit from the knowledge of the genetic polymorphism of these snails since association between hosts and parasite tend to generate and maintain genetic polymorphism (May, 1985), as has been predicted in models of schistosome-snail interactions (Morand et al, 1996). Several molecular biology techniques for studies of genetic variability in schistosomiasis vectors have been used Spatz et al, 1999;Knight et al, 1991Knight et al, , 2000Jannotti-Passos and Souza, 2000;Vidigal et al, 2000Vidigal et al, , 2001Caldeira et al, 2000Caldeira et al, , 2001Souza and Passos, 2001;Tuan and Bortolato, 2001). …”

Distribution and habitat preferences of the genus Biomphalaria (Gastropoda: Planorbidae) in Cuba

“…This fact makes us believe that this species could be the main intermediary host following an introduction of S. mansoni to Cuba if further similar populations are found. This species has been suggested as a potential host of schistosomiasis in some areas of the region (Vidigal et al 2001).…”