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Tick Biology and Microorganism Interaction: Understanding the Groundwork of Pathogen...
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Tick Biology and Microorganism Interaction: Understanding the Groundwork of Pathogen Transmission Mechanisms

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Parasitology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2023) | Viewed by 5008

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Rika Umemiya-Shirafuji

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Japan
Interests: ticks; nutrient signaling pathways in ticks; tick-borne protozoan parasites; interactions between ticks and tick-borne protozoan parasites; transmission of protozoan parasites in ticks
Dr. Remil L. Galay

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Veterinary Paraclinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of the Philippines Los Baños, Los Baños, Philippines
Interests: tick iron metabolism; tick-borne pathogens; rickettsial pathogens; tick antioxidant mechanism

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Ticks are responsible for transmitting numerous pathogens that can cause severe and potentially fatal diseases to humans and animals. Zoonotic tick-borne diseases have continued to emerge over the years. Ticks could be small, but their biology is also intricate, making them efficient vectors of pathogens. They have unique reproductive and survival mechanisms that allow them to persist, also favoring the proliferation and transmission of pathogens. Thus, a deeper understanding of their biological mechanisms is crucial to develop new strategies for effectively controlling them and their pathogens.

Through the years, several aspects of tick biology have been elucidated. Moreover, the relationship of ticks with different microorganisms, such as the essential role that symbiotic bacteria play in the survival and development of ticks and the significance of tick biomolecules in pathogen multiplication and transmission, is now recognized. This Special Issue aims to showcase the recent research developments on different aspects of tick biology and their interaction with microorganisms, including the pathogens they transmit.

Dr. Rika Umemiya-Shirafuji
Dr. Remil L. Galay
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • blood meal digestion in ticks
  • iron metabolism of ticks
  • antioxidant mechanism of ticks
  • tick microbiome
  • reproduction in ticks
  • tick embryogenesis
  • transmission of pathogens in ticks
  • tick-pathogen experimental model
  • gene/protein expression profiles of pathogen-infected/uninfected ticks
  • omics analyses of pathogen-infected/uninfected ticks

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 1007 KiB  
Article
Development Features of Ixodes ricinus × I. persulcatus Hybrids under Laboratory Conditions
by Oxana A. Belova, Alexandra E. Polienko, Anastasia D. Averianova and Galina G. Karganova
Microorganisms 2023, 11(9), 2252; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11092252 - 07 Sep 2023
Viewed by 726
Abstract
Widely distributed Ixodes ricinus and Ixodes persulcatus ticks transmit many pathogens of both medical and veterinary significance. The ranges of these tick species overlap and form large sympatric areas in the East European Plain and Baltic countries. It has previously been shown that [...] Read more.
Widely distributed Ixodes ricinus and Ixodes persulcatus ticks transmit many pathogens of both medical and veterinary significance. The ranges of these tick species overlap and form large sympatric areas in the East European Plain and Baltic countries. It has previously been shown that crossing I. ricinus and I. persulcatus is possible, resulting in the appearance of sterile hybrids. In the present study, we analyzed the features of this hybrid’s life cycle under laboratory conditions. For this purpose, virgin females of I. ricinus and I. persulcatus ticks were obtained in the laboratory, and hybrid generations of ticks were bred from the reciprocal crossings of these two tick species. According to our data, mating the females of I. ricinus and I. persulcatus with the males of another species leads to a decrease in the engorgement success of the females, a decrease in the number of hatched larvae, and the appearance of a hybrid generation in which both females and males are sterile. Under laboratory conditions at a constant room temperature and under natural daylight, the morphogenetic diapause of the engorged I. persulcatus larvae began in September. For I. persulcatus nymphs, it occurred earlier than for I. ricinus, in October and November, respectively. The hybrids generally repeated the features of the life cycle of the mother species. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tick Biology and Microorganism Interaction: Understanding the Groundwork of Pathogen Transmission Mechanisms)
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11 pages, 306 KiB  
Article
Artificial Feeding of Ornithodoros fonsecai and O. brasiliensis (Acari: Argasidae) and Investigation of the Transstadial Perpetuation of Anaplasma marginale
by Ana Carolina Castro-Santiago, Leidiane Lima-Duarte, Jaqueline Valeria Camargo, Beatriz Rocha De Almeida, Simone Michaela Simons, Luis Antonio Mathias, Ricardo Bassini-Silva, Rosangela Zacarias Machado, Marcos Rogério André and Darci Moraes Barros-Battesti
Microorganisms 2023, 11(7), 1680; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11071680 - 28 Jun 2023
Viewed by 936
Abstract
Anaplasma marginale is a Gram-negative, obligate intraerythrocytic bacterium that causes bovine anaplasmosis. While hard ticks of the genera Dermacentor and Rhipicephalus can be biological vectors, transmitting this pathogen via saliva during blood meals, blood-sucking insects, and fomites play a role as mechanical vectors. [...] Read more.
Anaplasma marginale is a Gram-negative, obligate intraerythrocytic bacterium that causes bovine anaplasmosis. While hard ticks of the genera Dermacentor and Rhipicephalus can be biological vectors, transmitting this pathogen via saliva during blood meals, blood-sucking insects, and fomites play a role as mechanical vectors. Little is known about the interaction between Anaplasma marginale and Argasidae ticks. Among soft ticks, Ornithodoros fonsecai (Labruna and Venzal) and Ornithodoros brasiliensis Aragão inhabit environments surrounding localities where many cases of bovine anaplasmosis have been reported. Ticks of the species O. fonsecai parasitize bats, while O. brasiliensis can parasitize different vertebrate species. Therefore, the present study aimed to feed third-instar nymphs artificially (N3) of O. fonsecai and O. brasiliensis using blood samples obtained from a calf naturally infected with A. marginale and rabbit blood added to A. marginale-containing bovine erythrocytes, to investigate the ability of these nymphs to acquire, infect and transstadially perpetuate this agent. For the artificial feeding system, adapted chambers and parafilm membranes were used. Nymphs of both tick species were submitted to different replications weighed before and after each feeding. Blood samples and molted ticks were submitted to DNA extraction, quantitative real-time PCR for the msp1β gene to detect A. marginale DNA, while a semi-nested polymerase chain reaction for the msp1α gene was performed for genotyping. Using calf blood naturally infected with A. marginale, among the three artificial feeding replications performed with O. fonsecai and O. brasiliensis nymphs, the DNA of A. marginale was detected in both nymphs after 30–50 days of molting. For artificial feeding with rabbit blood added to bovine erythrocytes containing A. marginale, the DNA of this pathogen was also detected in both nymph species. As for the assay for the msp1α gene, strains were found Is9; 78 24-2; 25; 23; α; and β. It was concluded that nymphs (N3) of O. fonsecai and O. brasiliensis could feed artificially through a parafilm membrane using blood from calves and rabbits infected by A. marginale. The DNA of A. marginale was detected in nymphs fed artificially of both tick species studied after molt. However, further studies are needed to confirm transstadial perpetuation in other instars and their host transmission capacity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tick Biology and Microorganism Interaction: Understanding the Groundwork of Pathogen Transmission Mechanisms)
23 pages, 3129 KiB  
Article
Identification and Characterization of Rhipicephalus microplus ATAQ Homolog from Haemaphysalis longicornis Ticks and Its Immunogenic Potential as an Anti-Tick Vaccine Candidate Molecule
by Paul Franck Adjou Moumouni, Souichirou Naomasa, Bumduuren Tuvshintulga, Nariko Sato, Kiyoshi Okado, Weiqing Zheng, Seung-Hun Lee, Juan Mosqueda, Hiroshi Suzuki, Xuenan Xuan and Rika Umemiya-Shirafuji
Microorganisms 2023, 11(4), 822; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11040822 - 23 Mar 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1350
Abstract
Although vaccines are one of the environmentally friendly means to prevent the spread of ticks, there is currently no commercial vaccine effective against Haemaphysalis longicornis ticks. In this study, we identified, characterized, localized, and evaluated the expression patterns, and tested the immunogenic potential [...] Read more.
Although vaccines are one of the environmentally friendly means to prevent the spread of ticks, there is currently no commercial vaccine effective against Haemaphysalis longicornis ticks. In this study, we identified, characterized, localized, and evaluated the expression patterns, and tested the immunogenic potential of a homologue of Rhipicephalus microplus ATAQ in H. longicornis (HlATAQ). HlATAQ was identified as a 654 amino acid-long protein present throughout the midgut and in Malpighian tubule cells and containing six full and one partial EGF-like domains. HlATAQ was genetically distant (homology < 50%) from previously reported ATAQ proteins and was expressed throughout tick life stages. Its expression steadily increased (p < 0.001) during feeding, reached a peak, and then decreased slightly with engorgement. Silencing of HlATAQ did not result in a phenotype that was significantly different from the control ticks. However, H. longicornis female ticks fed on a rabbit immunized with recombinant HlATAQ showed significantly longer blood-feeding periods, higher body weight at engorgement, higher egg mass, and longer pre-oviposition and egg hatching periods than control ticks. These findings indicate that the ATAQ protein plays a role in the blood-feeding-related physiological processes in the midgut and Malpighian tubules and antibodies directed against it may affect these tissues and disrupt tick engorgement and oviposition. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tick Biology and Microorganism Interaction: Understanding the Groundwork of Pathogen Transmission Mechanisms)
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14 pages, 610 KiB  
Article
Differentiation of Laboratory-Obtained Ixodes ricinus × Ixodes persulcatus Hybrid Ticks: Selection of Suitable Genes
by Alexander G. Litov, Oxana A. Belova, Sergey V. Bugmyrin, Ivan S. Kholodilov, Lidia Iu. Romanova and Galina G. Karganova
Microorganisms 2022, 10(7), 1306; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10071306 - 27 Jun 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1501
Abstract
Ixodes ricinus and Ixodes persulcatus ticks are the main vectors of tick-borne encephalitis virus and some bacterial pathogens. The regions where these tick species live overlap, forming large sympatric areas. It has previously been shown that these tick species have no morphological barrier, [...] Read more.
Ixodes ricinus and Ixodes persulcatus ticks are the main vectors of tick-borne encephalitis virus and some bacterial pathogens. The regions where these tick species live overlap, forming large sympatric areas. It has previously been shown that these tick species have no morphological barrier, and interspecies crossing is possible with the appearance of sterile hybrids. It has also been shown that hybrid larvae and nymphs can be differentiated using discriminant functions based on a set of morphological features. However, such an approach is laborious and rather ineffective with adult ticks, making a molecular approach necessary. In the current work, we tested the ability of different systems to differentiate laboratory-obtained hybrid ticks. Our data suggest that commonly used primer sets that target rRNA are unsuitable for hybrid tick determination, likely due to the rRNA region being linked with the X chromosome in I. ricinus and I. persulcatus ticks. We tested several primer sets targeting different non rRNA genes to assess their ability to determine hybrids. The best primer set, Toll_R, targeting the putative Toll gene, showed little to no bias when used for DNA amplification from hybrid ticks. Thus, Toll gene can be further used for hybrid detection. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tick Biology and Microorganism Interaction: Understanding the Groundwork of Pathogen Transmission Mechanisms)
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