Phylogenetic analysis of lice infested chicken (Gallus gallus domisticus) with new records in Kurdistan of Iraq

The domestic chickens are the most important protein sources of human populations in every part of the world; many parasites' species may affect birds. Ectoparasites can be found practically in all birds. They feed on their body components like blood, feathers. The effects of louse parasitism on birds are often severe, including retarded growth, low egg production and susceptibility to other infections and due to lice possess chewing mouthpart, it feeds on dry skin scales, scab tissues, and feather parts and it causes skin irritation and sucks blood (anemia), discomfort, loss of plumage, and decrease in productivity of the host. The aim of this study is to investigate lice genera and create the phylogenetic tree among the sequenced lice, using both mitochondrial DNA (COI gene) and nuclear gene (18S rRNA gene). Sequencing data were aligned with the sequences available in the NCBI GenBank. From October 2017 until July 2018, two hundred outdoor local chickens from three governorates (Duhok, Erbil and Sulaymaniyah), were examined for lice collection. After the morphological identification of the lice, the total genomic DNA of each louse was extracted individually and universal primers L6625, H7005 were used to amplify the DNA of mitochondrial gene COI (Cytochrome Oxidase Subunit I) and three designed specific primers (18SrRSHM1, 18SrRSHM2 and 18SrRSHM3) were applied to amplify the DNA of the nuclear gene 18S rRNA. Sequencing DNA results were submitted to the GenBank, For the first time in Iraq, twelve species of chicken lice have been submitted in a GenBank with accession numbers of MN531684 from Menopon gallinae; MN524167, MN588078, MN588079 belonged to the species of Menacanthus stramineus; MN524168, MN524182, MN588080 belonged to the species of Goniocotes gallinae; MN524180, MN588092 belonged to the species of Lipeurus caponis; MN524181, MN588091 belonged to the species of Goniocotes gigas and MN588089 belonged to the species of Goniodes dissimilis.