Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Genetics and Genomics Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Genetics and Genomics

Anti-Tick Vaccine Candidate Subolesin Is Important For Blood Feeding And Innate Immune Gene Expression In Soft Ticks, Krittika Nandy, Comfort Tamakloe, Daniel E. Sonenshine, Hameeda Sultana, Girish Neelakanta Jan 2023

Anti-Tick Vaccine Candidate Subolesin Is Important For Blood Feeding And Innate Immune Gene Expression In Soft Ticks, Krittika Nandy, Comfort Tamakloe, Daniel E. Sonenshine, Hameeda Sultana, Girish Neelakanta

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Subolesin is a conserved molecule in both hard and soft ticks and is considered as an effective candidate molecule for the development of anti-tick vaccine. Previous studies have reported the role of subolesin in blood feeding, reproduction, development, and gene expression in hard ticks. However, studies addressing the role of subolesin in soft ticks are limited. In this study, we report that subolesin is not only important in soft tick Ornithodoros turicata americanus blood feeding but also in the regulation of innate immune gene expression in these ticks. We identified and characterized several putative innate immune genes including Toll, Lysozyme …


Rickettsial Pathogen Perturbs Tick Circadian Gene To Infect The Vertebrate Host, Supreet Khanal, Vikas Taank, John F. Anderson, Hameeda Sultana, Girish Neelakanta Jan 2022

Rickettsial Pathogen Perturbs Tick Circadian Gene To Infect The Vertebrate Host, Supreet Khanal, Vikas Taank, John F. Anderson, Hameeda Sultana, Girish Neelakanta

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Ixodes scapularis is a medically important tick that transmits several microbes to humans, including rickettsial pathogen Anaplasma phagocytophilum. In nature, these ticks encounter several abiotic factors including changes in temperature, humidity, and light. Many organisms use endogenously generated circadian pathways to encounter abiotic factors. In this study, we provide evidence for the first time to show that A. phagocytophilum modulates the arthropod circadian gene for its transmission to the vertebrate host. We noted a circadian oscillation in the expression of arthropod clock, bmal1, period and timeless genes when ticks or tick cells were exposed to alternate 12 h …


Complete Genome Sequence Of Rickettsia Parkeri Strain Black Gap, Sandor E. Karpathy, Christopher D. Paddock, Stephanie L. Grizzard, Dhwani Batra, Lori A. Rowe, David T. Gauthier Jan 2021

Complete Genome Sequence Of Rickettsia Parkeri Strain Black Gap, Sandor E. Karpathy, Christopher D. Paddock, Stephanie L. Grizzard, Dhwani Batra, Lori A. Rowe, David T. Gauthier

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

A unique genotype of Rickettsia parkeri, designated R. parkeri strain Black Gap, has thus far been associated exclusively with the North American tick, Dermacentor parumapertus. The compete genome consists of a single circular chromosome with 1,329,522 bp and a G+C content of 32.5%.


Microbiomes Of Blood-Feeding Arthropods: Genes Coding For Essential Nutrients And Relation To Vector Fitness And Pathogenic Infections. A Review, Daniel E. Sonenshine, Philip E. Stewart Jan 2021

Microbiomes Of Blood-Feeding Arthropods: Genes Coding For Essential Nutrients And Relation To Vector Fitness And Pathogenic Infections. A Review, Daniel E. Sonenshine, Philip E. Stewart

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Blood-feeding arthropods support a diverse array of symbiotic microbes, some of which facilitate host growth and development whereas others are detrimental to vector-borne pathogens. We found a common core constituency among the microbiota of 16 different arthropod blood-sucking disease vectors, including Bacillaceae, Rickettsiaceae, Anaplasmataceae, Sphingomonadaceae, Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonadaceae, Moraxellaceae and Staphylococcaceae. By comparing 21 genomes of common bacterial symbionts in blood-feeding vectors versus non-blooding insects, we found that certain enteric bacteria benefit their hosts by upregulating numerous genes coding for essential nutrients. Bacteria of blood-sucking vectors expressed significantly more genes (p < 0.001) coding for these essential nutrients than those of non-blooding insects. Moreover, compared to endosymbionts, the genomes of enteric bacteria also contained significantly more genes (p < 0.001) that code for the synthesis of essential amino acids and proteins that detoxify reactive oxygen species. In contrast, microbes in non-blood-feeding insects expressed few gene families coding for these nutrient categories. We also discuss specific midgut bacteria essential for the normal development of pathogens (e.g., Leishmania) versus …


Tissue And Life Stage Distribution Of A Defensin-Like Gene In The Lone Star Tick Amblyomma Americanum, S. Michelle Todd, Daniel E. Sonenshine, Wayne L. Hynes Jan 2007

Tissue And Life Stage Distribution Of A Defensin-Like Gene In The Lone Star Tick Amblyomma Americanum, S. Michelle Todd, Daniel E. Sonenshine, Wayne L. Hynes

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The transcript sequence of the Amblyomma americanum Linnaeus (Acari: Ixodidae) defensin, termed amercin (amn), was ascertained and a 219-bp amn coding region identified. The gene encodes a 72-amino acid prepropeptide with a putative 37-amino acid mature peptide. This gene shows little similarity to either of the defensins from Amblyomma hebraeum Koch, the only other Amblyomma species for which a defensin has been described. Sequence comparisons with other tick defensins reveal amn to be shorter (6 bp or 2 amino acids) than the Ixodes scapularis Linnaeus (Acari: Ixodidae) and Dermacentor variabilis (Say) (Acari: Ixodidae) defensin sequences. The amercin prepropeptide …


Sequence And The Developmental And Tissue-Specific Regulation Of The First Complete Vitellogenin Message From Ticks, Deborah M. Thompson, Sayed M.S. Khalil, Laura A. Jeffers, Daniel E. Sonenshine, Robert D. Mitchell, Christopher J. Osgood, R. Michael Roe Jan 2007

Sequence And The Developmental And Tissue-Specific Regulation Of The First Complete Vitellogenin Message From Ticks, Deborah M. Thompson, Sayed M.S. Khalil, Laura A. Jeffers, Daniel E. Sonenshine, Robert D. Mitchell, Christopher J. Osgood, R. Michael Roe

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The first full-length mRNA for vitellogenin (Vg) from ticks was sequenced. This also represents the first complete sequence of Vg from the Chelicerata and of a heme binding Vg. The Vg cDNA from the American dog tick, Dermacentor variabilis was 5744nt in length (GenBank Accession number AY885250), which coded for a protein of 1843aa with a calculated molecular weight of 208kD. This protein had an 18 aa signal sequence, a single RXXR cleavage signal that would generate two subunits (49.5 and 157K in molecular weight) and lipoprotein N-terminal and carboxy von Willebrand factor type D domains. Tryptic digest MS analysis …


A Defensin-Like Gene Expressed In The Black-Legged Tick, Ixodes Scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae), Wayne L. Hynes, S. M. Ceraul, S. M. Todd, K. C. Seguin, Daniel E. Sonenshine Jan 2005

A Defensin-Like Gene Expressed In The Black-Legged Tick, Ixodes Scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae), Wayne L. Hynes, S. M. Ceraul, S. M. Todd, K. C. Seguin, Daniel E. Sonenshine

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The black-legged tick Ixodes scapularis linnaeus (Acari: Ixodidae) is an important vector of microbial pathogens. Knowledge of the tick's innate immune response, particularly defensin and other antimicrobial peptides, is important for understanding how microbes survive in this tick. A defensin gene (slnA) from I. scapularis was obtained by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using mRNA extracted from tissues of female ticks. RT-PCR indicated the gene was expressed in the midgut, haemocytes, and fat-body, although no evidence of a peptide was found. Sequencing a cloned cDNA fragment revealed a 225 bp open reading frame encoding a 74 amino acid pre-prodefensin, including …