PRELIMINARY DNA-SEQUENCING OF FRESHWATER SNAILS IN THE GENERA BULINUS AT L. VICTORIA, KENYA PRESENT POTENTIAL OF BARCODING IN ADDRESSING BIOMEDICAL UNCERTAINTIES

LANGE, C. N. (1)

(1) National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya

Lightning Talk, Parasites and Vectors, Innova B21, Saturday, 11:30 to 11:45
Poster Location: B63

The genera Bulinus comprises of freshwater snails with many species described morphologically. In Eastern Africa, over ten species have been described morphologically with several still presenting many morphological taxonomic uncertainties. From a public health perspective, some Bulinus snails are potential intermediate hosts of parasites that cause snail-borne diseases in humans (bilharzia) making these snails identification vital in biomedical applications. Among the Bulinus snails presenting major taxonomic difficulties are those from L. Victoria, Kenya. Currently four species--B. transversalis, B. coulboisi, B. truncatus, B. trigonus-- are known from the lake though with morphological intermediate forms. The taxonomic uncertainties associated with these snails have often created major research challenges and biomedical concerns. This is mainly because unclear identification of these snails makes the lake snails studies problematic thereby creating a medical concern on whether the lake Bulinus snails are intermediate hosts of parasites that cause bilharzia. Whereas morphological taxonomy has faced major challenges in snails diagnosis, DNA sequencing or barcoding has shown great potential for complementing morphological taxonomy in resolving many of the morphological taxonomic uncertainties. In an attempt then to unravel the morphological identification challenges surrounding L. Victoria Bulinus snails, a range of Bulinus snails collected from various localities in Kenya were examined for DNA-sequencing (Partial 16S rDNA and COI) and blast search was performed at GenBank for species verification. Sequences of 420bp to 450bp were developed which formed a closely related species clade in a phylogenetic tree. Genetically, the clade was mainly closest to Bulinus truncatus barcodes in GenBank, a species of no medical importance in the region. The study demonstrated potential of barcoding in delimiting species from a range of morphological taxonomic uncertainties thereby contributing in vectors diagnosis for enhancing identification of vector-borne disease risk areas.

Keywords: Disease Vectors/Pathogens/Parasites