Identification of Host Species from the Blood Meal of Tick Nymphs Using LC/MSMS

摘要

The time-course experiment shows that hemoglobin is present at detectable levels for at least 68 days past molting of larvae to nymphs (110 days after feeding). Under laboratory conditions employed no ticks survived past 70 days (20percent mortality rate), therefore no additional time points could be analyzed. Highest confidence assignments by Sequest, InsPecT and SQID report rabbit hemoglobin present in the samples. Using a fragmentation probability predicting software the relative abundance of b and y product ions can be estimated. Incorporation of intensity information in addition to m/z adds an additional dimension to data-base searching algorithms (SQID) and it can be useful in improving de novo sequencing algorithms.