Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

RNA interference screening in ticks for identification of protective antigens

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Parasitology Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Ticks are ectoparasites of wild and domestic animals and humans, and are considered to be the most important arthropod vector of pathogens in North America. Development of vaccines directed against tick proteins may effect reduction of tick infestations and transmission of tick-borne pathogens. The limiting step for the development of tick vaccines has been the identification of tick protective antigens. Reverse vaccinology approaches aimed at reducing animal experimentation while allowing for the rapid screening of pools of potential tick vaccine candidates would greatly facilitate progress towards the development of tick vaccines. Herein, we describe the screening of Ixodes scapularis cDNAs for identification of tick protective antigens using RNA interference (RNAi). The results of the RNAi screening were similar to those obtained previously using expression library immunization and demonstrated that RNAi could serve as a more rapid and cost-effective tool for vaccine antigen discovery in ticks and in other nonmodel organisms.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aljamali MN, Sauer JR, Essenberg RC (2002) RNA interference: applicability in tick research. Exp Appl Acarol 28:89–96

    Google Scholar 

  • Aljamali MN, Bior AD, Sauer JR, Essenberg RC (2003) RNA interference in ticks: a study using histamine binding protein dsRNA in the female tick Amblyomma americanum. Insect Mol Biol 12:299–305

    Google Scholar 

  • Almazán C, Kocan KM, Bergman DK, Garcia-Garcia JC, Blouin EF, de la Fuente J (2003a) Identification of protective antigens for the control of Ixodes scapularis infestations using cDNA expression library immunization. Vaccine 21:1492–1501

    Google Scholar 

  • Almazán C, Kocan KM, Bergman DK, Garcia-Garcia JC, Blouin EF, de la Fuente J (2003b) Characterization of genes transcribed in an Ixodes scapularis cell line that were identified by expression library immunization and analysis of expressed sequence tags. Gene Ther Mol Biol 7:43–59

    Google Scholar 

  • Estrada-Peña A, Jongejan F (1999) Ticks feeding on humans: a review of records on human-biting Ixodoidea with special reference to pathogen transmission. Exp Appl Acarol 23:685–715

    Google Scholar 

  • de la Fuente J, Kocan KM (2003) Advances in the identification and characterization of protective antigens for development of recombinant vaccines against tick infestations. Expert Rev Vaccines 2:583–593

    Google Scholar 

  • Karim S, Ramakrishnan VG, Tucker JS, Essenberg RC, Sauer JR (2004a) Amblyomma americanum salivary glands: double-stranded RNA-mediated gene silencing of synaptobrevin homologue and inhibition of PGE2 stimulated protein secretion. Insect Biochem Mol Biol 34:407–413

    Google Scholar 

  • Karim S, Ramakrishnan VG, Tucker JS, Essenberg RC, Sauer JR (2004b) Amblyomma americanum salivary gland homolog of nSec1 is essential for saliva protein secretion. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 324:1256–1263

    Google Scholar 

  • Mello CC, Conte D Jr (2004) Revealing the world of RNA interference. Nature 431:338–342

    Google Scholar 

  • Miyoshi T, Tsuji N, Islam MK, Kamio T, Fujisaki K (2004) Gene silencing of a cubilin-related serine proteinase from the hard tick Haemaphysalis longicornis by RNA interference. J Vet Med Sci 66:1471–1473

    Google Scholar 

  • Narasimhan S, Montgomery RR, DePonte K, Tschudi C, Marcantonio N, Anderson JF, Sauer JR, Cappello M, Kantor FS, Fikrig E (2004) Disruption of Ixodes scapularis anticoagulation by using RNA interference. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101:1141–1146

    Google Scholar 

  • Pal U, Li X, Wang T, Montgomery RR, Ramamoorthi N, Desilva AM, Bao F, Yang X, Pypaert M, Pradhan D, Kantor FS, Telford S, Anderson JF, Fikrig E (2004) TROSPA, an Ixodes scapularis receptor for Borrelia burgdorferi. Cell 119:457–468

    Google Scholar 

  • Parola P, Raoult D (2001) Tick-borne bacterial diseases emerging in Europe. Clin Microbiol Infect 7:80–83

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rappuoli R (2000) Reverse vaccinology. Curr Opin Microbiol 3:445–450

    Google Scholar 

  • Willadsen P (2004) Anti-tick vaccines. Parasitology 129:S1–S21

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station (project 1669), the Sitlington Endowed Chair for Food Animal Research (K. M. Kocan, Oklahoma State University). Consuelo Almazán was supported by Pfizer Animal Health, Kalamazoo, MI, and a grant-in-aid from the CONACYT and Promep (University of Tamaulipas), Mexico. V. Naranjo was founded by Consejería de Educación, JCCM, Spain. These experiments comply with the current laws of the U.S.A.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to José de la Fuente.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

de la Fuente, J., Almazán, C., Blouin, E.F. et al. RNA interference screening in ticks for identification of protective antigens. Parasitol Res 96, 137–141 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-005-1351-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-005-1351-5

Keywords

Navigation