Analysis of the complete mitochondrial genomes of two forensically important blowfly species: Lucilia caesar and Lucilia illustris

摘要

Blowfly species of the family Calliphoridae can be used in forensic investigations to estimate the minimum post-mortem interval (PMImin). Lucilia caesar and Lucilia illustris (Diptera: Calliphoridae) are closely related and phenotypically similar, making reliable identification difficult. To identify potential genetic markers to distinguish these species, five complete mitochondrial genomes were sequenced: three for L. caesar ({"type":"entrez-nucleotide-range","attrs":{"text":"KM657111-KM657113","start_term":"KM657111","end_term":"KM657113","start_term_id":"758186306","end_term_id":"758186334"}}KM657111-KM657113) and two for L. illustris ({"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"KM657109","term_id":"758186278","term_text":"KM657109"}}KM657109, {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"KM657110","term_id":"758186292","term_text":"KM657110"}}KM657110). The ND6 gene contained the most species-specific SNPs (1.71%), followed by the ND5 gene (1.68%) and the COI gene (1.56%), identifying ND6 and ND5 as valuable loci for differentiating L. caesar and L. illustris specimens.