Differentiation of Moniezia expansa and Moniezia benedeni (Eucestoda: Cyclophyllidea) by isoelectric focusing

Isoelectric focusing was performed on extracts from whole specimens of Moniezia expansa recovered from sheep and Moniezia benedeni recovered from cattle. The isoelectric focusing banding patterns for mature, postmature, early gravid, and gravid proglottids from individual cestodes were compared along with those for intestinal tissue from the respective hosts. Unique, reproducible banding patterns were characteristic of each species. In addition, the patterns for these cestodes were distinctly different from those for either of the host tissues. The tracks of the gels were scanned and values for isoelectric points were assigned for the dominant peaks characteristic of each species. A range based on the mean ± 2 SD was then assigned to each of these peaks for future comparisons.