Genetic Characterization of Haemonchus Contortus in Goats (Capra Hircus) and Sheep (Ovis Aries) in Penang, Malaysia

Haemonchus contortus is a sheep and goat parasitic nematode that causes severe economic losses. Previous studies have indicated a high degree of morphological traits difference which are believed to be subjected to environmental influences. This study was carried out to analyse the genetic difference among H. contortus found in sheep and goats in Penang, Malaysia. The second Internal Transcribed Spacer region (ITS-2) of the nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA) of H. contortus was amplified and sequenced. A total of six ITS-2 haplotypes were identified. The ITS-2 sequences that are 231 base pair in length was aligned and used for analysis. Distance based analysis using Neighbor-Joining method and parsimony analysis were used to construct phylogenetic trees to elucidate genetic relationships. Both set of trees showed the same topology separating Penang s H. contortus into two quite distinct groups. The preliminary results provide an insight on genetic relationships of H. contortus from different hosts and the status of the DNA sequence used in the analysis.