Yan Wang - Department of Health Inspection and Quarantine, Faculty of Medicine, Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, China
Xiang-Lin Tao - Department of Health Inspection and Quarantine, Faculty of Medicine, Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, China
Yu Fang - Department of Health Inspection and Quarantine, Faculty of Medicine, Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, China
Weixi Fang - Department of Health Inspection and Quarantine, Faculty of Medicine, Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, China
Huang-Fang Shao - Department of Health Inspection and Quarantine, Faculty of Medicine, Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, China
Yu-Juan Zhan - Department of Health Inspection and Quarantine, Faculty of Medicine, Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, China
Xin-Mei Li - Department of Health Inspection and Quarantine, Faculty of Medicine, Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, China
Ting-Ting Hu - Department of Health Inspection and Quarantine, Faculty of Medicine, Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, China
Chang-Jiang Ye - Department of Health Inspection and Quarantine, Faculty of Medicine, Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, China
Fei Liu - Department of Health Inspection and Quarantine, Faculty of Medicine, Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, China
En-Tao Sun - Department of Health Inspection and Quarantine, Faculty of Medicine, Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, China

Astigmatid mites are economically significant pests of stored products and sources of inhalant allergens causing allergic rhinitis and asthma worldwide. The morphological identification of astigmatid mites at the species level is often a difficult task due to their small size, phenotypic similarity and lack of diagnostic characters. We used multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to identify astigmatid mite species, which could complement the morphological data for the species-specific identification of mites. Internal ribosomal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences (i.e., partial ۱۸S, the full length of ITS۱-۵.۸S-ITS۲ and partial ۲۸S) from eight astigmatid species (Acarus siro, Tyrophagus putrescentiae, Suidasia nesbitti, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, Dermatophagoides farinae, Lepidoglyphus destructor, Chortoglyphus arcuatus and Gohieria fuscus) were obtained by DNA extraction and then sequenced after PCR amplification. Specific primers were designed in the ITS۲ region manually. Results revealed that an identification method for eight common astigmatid species was established based on multiplex PCR, which should be effective for the identification of other species of mites by redesigning species-specific primers in future experiments.

astigmatid mite, Internal ribosomal transcribed spacer, Multiplex polymerase chain reaction, Species identification, Species-specific primers