Molecular study of two medicinal leech species
The genus Hirudo is an invertebrate animal that got major concerns to human. However, genetics of Hirudo has been unwell considered in Iraq. In order to gain a deeper understanding in the outline of the genetic of Hirudo that were used in alternative medicine clinics, nineteen specimens of Hirudo were obtained. Fourteen of them (H.verbana, n=10; H. orientalis, n=4) were obtained from some different clinics and scientific centres in Baghdad, Iraq between January and March 2022, these specimens were considered as non-local leeches. The other (native isolates) leeches (H. orientalis, n=5) were collected in 2014 from two localities in Erbil, northern Iraq. ITS-2, COI and 12S-rRNA of Hirudo spp were amplified using conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR); then, the amplicons were subjected to sequencing. Concatenation of ITS-2 sequences resulted in one genotype among the H.verbana isolates and one genotype among H.orientalis isolates. While the concatenation of COI sequences resulted in four haplotypes among H.verbana isolates and two haplotypes among H.orientalis isolates. While the concatenation of 12-rRNA resulted in two haplotypes among H.verbana isolates and only one haplotype among H.orientalis isolates.The results of this current study showed that ITS sequences were fewer divers than in COI and 12S-rRNA. This investigation gives an insight about the genetic divergence of Hirudo spp used in clinics of alternative medicine in Iraq.