Thrombostasin isoform frequency in a Central Texas field population of the horn fly, Haematobia irritans

Thrombostasin is an anti-thrombin factor that plays a role in successful feeding of the horn fly, Haematobia irritans. It has been isolated and characterized from saliva, and polymorphisms in the gene coding sequence have been previously reported. In the present study, the thrombostasin gene was analyzed from 60, field-collected flies from Camp Stanley, Texas and the allele and genotype frequencies were compared with previously published data for an Alabama field collection and a Texas in vitro colony-reared collection. Significant differences in genotype frequency and extent of genotypic diversity observed between the Alabama and Camp Stanley field collections may be attributable to host genetic differences. In addition, bull calves that were phenotyped as either high- or low-carriers were parasitized by horn flies that displayed a significantly different genotype distribution, supporting a possible explanation for horn fly host selection behavior, as evidenced by thrombostasin sequence analysis of 95 additional horn flies collected from respective hosts.