Molecular methods for arthropod bloodmeal identification and applications to ecological and vector-borne disease studies

DNA-based methods have greatly enhanced the sensitivity and specificity of hematophagous arthropod bloodmeal identification. A variety of methods have been applied to study the blood-feeding behaviour of mosquitoes, ticks, black flies and other blood-feeding arthropods as it relates to host-parasite interactions and pathogen transmission. Overviews of the molecular techniques used for bloodmeal identification, their advantages, disadvantages and applications are presented for DNA sequencing, group-specific polymerase chain reaction primers, restriction fragment length polymorphism, real-time polymerase chain reaction, heteroduplex analysis, reverse line-blot hybridization and DNA profiling. Technical challenges to bloodmeal identification including digestion and analysis of mixed bloodmeals are discussed. Analysis of bloodmeal identification results remains a challenge to the field, particularly with regard to incorporation of vertebrate census and ecology data. Future research directions for molecular analysis of arthropod bloodmeals are proposed.