Construction of a DNA database for ticks collected in Japan: application of molecular identification based on the mitochondrial 16S rDNA gene

Tick identification is important in control of tick-born diseases because tick-borne pathogens are often transmitted by specific tick species. In this study, we determined partial DNA sequences of the mitochondrial 16S rDNA gene (mt-rrs) for ticks including 7 genera and 39 species, and these ticks were allocated to 113 sequence types. Of the 39 species of ticks, 36 species (92.3%) were distinguishable by phylogenetic analysis of mt-rrs. This result suggests that species identification of ticks based on mt-rrs is a viable alternative to morphological identification. In order to establish a DNA database for identification of ixodid and argasid ticks in Japan, we deposited all sequence data in GenBank (from AB819156 to AB819268).