Identification of various Biomphalaria alexandrina strains collected from five Egyptian governorates using RAPD and species-specific PCR techniques

The first generation of Biomphalaria snails collected from five Egyptian governorates (Giza, Fayoum, Kafr El-Sheikh, Ismailia and Damietta) were subjected to species-specific PCR assays and the results showed that snails collected from the field were B. alexandrina, and there was no evidence for the presence of B. glabrata. The snails were subjected also to RAPD-PCR technique. The results showed that different fingerprints with each B. alexandrina strain were produced with varying numbers of bands ranging in size from 123.6 to 796.6 bp depending on the snail strain and the primer used. Many specific bands were obtained with the four primers in each strain. Primer OPA-1 amplified the highest number of specific bands (26 bands) and gave the highest polymorphism among the primers used (100% polymorphism). The estimated similarity coefficients among B. alexandrina strains based on the RAPD-PCR profiles ranged from 0.56 to 0.72. The highest similarity coefficient (0.72) was recorded between the strains of Ismailia and Kafr El-Sheikh, while the lowest coefficient (0.56) was reported between the strains of SPSC and Ismailia.