Among gastrointestinal nematodes, haematophagous strongylids Haemonchus contortus and Ashworthius sidemi belong to the most pathogenic parasites of both domestic and wild ruminants. Correct identification of parasitic taxa is of crucial importance in many areas of parasite research, including monitoring of occurrence, epidemiological studies, or testing of effectiveness of therapy. In this study, we identified H. contortus and A. sidemi in a broad range of ruminant hosts that occur in the Czech Republic using morphological/morphometric and molecular approaches. As an advanced molecular method, we employed qPCR followed by High Resolution Melting analysis, specifically targeting the internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS-1) sequence to distinguish the two nematode species. We demonstrate that High Resolution Melting curves allow for taxonomic affiliation, making it a convenient, rapid, and reliable identification tool.

Department of Botany and Zoology Faculty of Science Masaryk University Brno 611 37 Czech Republic

Department of Zoology and Fisheries Faculty of Agrobiology Food and Natural Resources Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Prague 165 00 Czech Republic

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Molecular uncovering of important helminth species in wild ruminants in the Czech Republic

The identification and semi-quantitative assessment of gastrointestinal nematodes in faecal samples using multiplex real-time PCR assays