The relapsing fever spirochete, Borrelia hermsii, alternates infections between a mammal and a tick vector. Whether the spirochete changes phenotypically in the different hosts was examined by allowing the tick vector Ornithodoros hermsi to feed on mice infected with serotype 7 or serotype 8 of B. hermsii. Upon infection of ticks, the spirochetal serotype-specific variable major proteins (Vmps)...

Ticks, as a group, are second only to mosquitoes as vectors of pathogens to humans and are the primary vector for pathogens of livestock, companion animals, and wildlife. The role of ticks in the transmission of viruses has been known for over 100 years and yet new pathogenic viruses are still being detected and known viruses are continually spreading to new geographic locations. Partly as a re...

Ticks and tick transmitted infectious agents are increasing global public health threats due to abundance, expanding geographic ranges of vectors pathogens, emerging tick-borne agents. Greater understanding tick, host, pathogen interactions will contribute development novel control disease prevention strategies. Tick-borne pathogens adapt in multiple ways very different vertebrate host environm...

The southern cattle tick Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus (Bm) is a vector of bovine babesiosis and anaplasmosis. Tick resistance to organophosphate (OP) acaricide involves acetylcholinesterase (AChE) insensitivity to OP and metabolic detoxification. Sequencing and in vitro expression of Bm genes encoding AChE allowed biochemical characterization of three BmAChEs expressed in tick synganglio...

Human granulocytotropic ehrlichias are tick-borne bacterial pathogens that cause an acute, life-threatening illness, human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE). Ehrlichias within neutrophil granulocytes that invade tick bite sites are likely ingested by the vector, to be transmitted to another mammalian host during the tick's next blood meal. Thus, the cycle of replication and development in the vec...

Outer surface protein C (OspC) is a differentially expressed major surface lipoprotein of Borrelia burgdorferi. ospC is swiftly upregulated when spirochetes leave the Ixodes scapularis tick gut, migrate to the salivary gland, and exit the arthropod vector. Here we show that OspC strongly binds to the tick salivary gland, suggesting a role for OspC in spirochete adherence to this tissue. In vivo...

Ticks transmit more pathogens-including bacteria, parasites and viruses-than any other arthropod vector. Although the epidemiological status of many tick-borne bacteria is very well characterized, tick-borne viruses are still relatively under-studied. Recently, several novel tick-borne viruses have been isolated from human febrile illnesses following tick bites, indicating the existence of othe...

Borrelia burgdorferi, the spirochetal agent of Lyme disease, is transmitted by Ixodes ticks. A vaccine based on B. burgdorferi outer surface protein (Osp) A protects mice from spirochete infection. Here we report on the expression of OspA on spirochetes inside engorging ticks and relate OspA expression to antispirochetal immunity. Spirochetes in the gut of unfed nymphal ticks were stained by an...

The family of ticks are important vectors of pathogens which can cause a variety of diseases in different species, including humans. In recent years the incidence of diseases transmitted by ticks has risen. This seems to be partly due to the expansion of the tick vector into urban areas. Pathogens transmitted by ticks include viruses, bacteria and protozoans. Ticks serve not only as transmitter...

B. burgdorferi, the pathogen of Lyme borreliosis, persists in a natural tick-rodent transmission cycle. Assessment of in vivo and in vitro microbial transcriptome encoding selected membrane proteins by high throughput qRT-PCR, showed bba62, bba52, bb0323, bba74, bbe31, bbg01 are predominantly expressed during vector-specific phase of B. burgdorferi life cycle compared to mammalian host. In addi...