The mitochondrial genome of the chimpanzee louse, Pediculus schaeffi: insights into the process of mitochondrial genome fragmentation in the blood-sucking lice of great apes

Abstract excerpt

BACKGROUND: Blood-sucking lice in the genera Pediculus and Pthirus are obligate ectoparasites of great apes. Unlike most bilateral animals, which have 37 mitochondrial (mt) genes on a single circular chromosome, the sucking lice of humans have extensively fragmented mt genomes. The head louse, Pediculus capitis, and the body louse, Pe. humanus, have their 37 mt genes on 20 minichromosomes. The pubic louse,...

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