Characterization of South American Snails of the Genus (Basommatophora: Planorbidae) and (Platyhelminthes: Trematoda) in Molluscs by PCR-RFLP.

The identification of snails of the genus can be done using morphological characteristics which depends on the size of the snails and skill and knowledge of researcher. These methods sometimes are not adequate for identification of species. The PCR-RFLP, using the ITS region of the rDNA, has been used to identify Brazilian species of the genus .

Hybridism between Biomphalaria cousini and Biomphalaria amazonica and its susceptibility to Schistosoma mansoni.

Molecular techniques can aid in the classification of Biomphalaria species because morphological differentiation between these species is difficult. Previous studies using phylogeny, morphological and molecular taxonomy showed that some populations studied were Biomphalaria cousini instead of Biomphalaria amazonica. Three different molecular profiles were observed that enabled the separation of B.

Preliminary studies investigating the occurrence of Biomphalaria cousini in Brazil.

Specific genetic profiles of Brazilian Biomphalaria species were previously standardized by molecular taxonomy through the analysis of restriction fragments, which were generated by digesting the internal transcribed spacer region of rDNA with the DdeI endonuclease. Biomphalaria amazonica displayed three distinct profiles. To investigate these distinct profiles, the same molecular technique, polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism, was used with different endonucleases.

Occurrence of Biomphalaria cousini (Mollusca: Gastropoda) in Brazil and its susceptibility to Schistosoma mansoni (Platyhelminths: Trematoda).

In Brazil, there are three intermediate snail vectors and two potential hosts of Schistosoma mansoni. Previous studies showed three variant molecular profiles to B. amazonica and evidenced intraspecific variations using sequence data.