Molecular characterization of in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India: an insight into genetic assemblages.

The tick, is considered as the most notorious ectoparasite of veterinary importance in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. The present study deals with the molecular characterization of . in different regions of Andaman and Nicobar Islands using sequence information of mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase subunit I (COX1) and their phylogenetic relationship with other Indian . genotypes. DNA polymorphism study identified a total of eight haplotypes with haplotype diversity of 0.909 ± 0.065 and nucleotide diversity of 0.01911 ± 0.00493. Currently, . complex consists of five taxa; . clade A sensu Burger . (2014), . clade B sensu Burger . (2014), . clade C sensu Low . (2015), . and . . Phylogenetic analysis revealed the presence of two clades (clade A and clade C) of . in Andaman and Nicobar isolates; Nicobar isolates belonged to clade A whereas Andaman isolates belonged to clade C of . complex. All the other Indian sequences retrieved from GenBank belonged to clade C of . complex. Andaman isolates under clade C of . were phylogenetically distinct from Indian isolates, which indicates independent speciation under isolated island milieu. In Indian isolates, no host-specific or geographical location-specific sub-clustering was observed which indicates the species jumping potential of the . tick. Therefore, this study indicated the presence of two different genetic makeup of . complex in two areas of the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago separated by a natural geographical barrier. This indicates presence of two different founding populations of ticks, one in the south and north-middle Andaman and the other in Nicobar Island.