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Fig. 1 | Parasites & Vectors

Fig. 1

From: Host DNA integrity within blood meals of hematophagous larval gnathiid isopods (Crustacea, Isopoda, Gnathiidae)

Fig. 1

Life-cycle of gnathiid isopods and a general workflow for establishing host DNA integrity over time from gnathiid blood meal. a The three stages of unfed juvenile zuphea are identified as Z1, Z2 and Z3. Upon feeding, these zuphea develop into first-stage (P1), second-stage (P2), and third-stage (P3) fed pranizae, respectively. The star indicates the points within the gnathiid’s life-cycle where we assessed host DNA integrity within blood meals. b Fifty gnathiids of each stage were placed into one of three containers, each filled with approximately 5 l of seawater. Unfed gnathiids were allowed to feed on a fish overnight, under controlled conditions. The following morning, the fish were removed and the fed gnathiids (pranizae) were transferred to 50 ml beakers filled with seawater. Pranizae were allowed to digest their blood meals up to 5 days post-feeding. All subsets were preserved in 100% molecular grade ethanol, and at c 0, 4, 8, 12, 16, and 24 h post-feeding, gnathiids were preserved in real time

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