Chakrabarti, Seemanti

Ph.D. 2005 Phone: (785) 532-6331 Fax: (785) 532-6232 seemanti@ksu.eduDegree Being Pursued: Ph.D.

Bio Brief

Population genetics and breeding structure of the House Fly (Musca domestica L.)

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/NEWS/END-news.html

Education

M.S. , Pune University, India,

Research

The house fly (Musca domestica L.) is a synanthropic species distributed worldwide. Due to their mode of feeding, developmental habitats,unrestricted movement, and attraction to places where food is prepared, house flies may greatly amplify the risk of exposure to food-borne and other pathogens. My research involves the study of house fly dispersal and breeding structure. In order to achieve this molecular marker were developed in our laboratory. Seventeen microsatellite primers were generated using the house fly DNA enriched for various repeat sequences. Forty adult house flies from different locations within Manhattan, Kansas were tested for all the loci. Nine loci were found polymorphic with the number of alleles ranging from two to four. Extensive temporal and spatial (rural and urban habitats) sampling and testing of house flies using the polymorphic loci gives an insight to the population sub-structuring and movement and will potentially lead to development of a fingerprinting technique for house fly population ecology.

Publications

Chakrabarti, S., S. Kambhampati, T. Grace, and L. Zurek. 2004. Characterization of microsatellite loci in the house fly, Musca domestica L. (Dipetera: Muscidae). Molecular Ecology Notes 4: 728-730