APPLICATION OF RANDOM AMPLIFIED POLYMORPHIC DNA (RAPD) ASSAY TO THE STUDY OF MITES RELATED TO ALLERGIC DISEASES

In this study, the conditions for the successful application of the ra ndom amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) assay to differentiate mite popu lations based on genetic variation were defined. Five species of mites related to allergic diseases were studied: Dermatophagoides pteronyss inus, D. farinae (2 strains), Blomia tropicalis, Glycyphagus domesticu s and Tyrophagus putrescentiae. The mites were isolated from pure cult ures and processed according to the method described in this paper. Th e banding patterns obtained were different for all the species studied . When the DNA from two different strains of D. farinae were studied, the ''fingerprint'' banding patterns obtained showed differences betwe en them. The random amplified polymorphic DNA assay may be a useful to ol to aid the taxonomic study of mite populations.