Project description:Ixodes species ticks are competent vectors of tick-borne viruses including tick-borne encephalitis and Powassan encephalitis. Tick saliva has been shown to facilitate and enhance viral infection. This likely occurs by saliva-mediated modulation of host responses into patterns favorable for viral infection and dissemination. Because of the rapid kinetics of tick-borne viral transmission, this modulation must occur as early as tick attachment and initiation of feeding. In this study, the gene expression profile of cutaneous bite-site lesions created by uninfected ticks were analyzed at 1, 3, 6, and 12 hours after Ixodes scapularis nymphal tick attachment to discover host pathways or responses potentially important in tick-borne viral establishment.
Project description:Ixodes species ticks are competent vectors of tick-borne viruses including tick-borne encephalitis and Powassan encephalitis. Tick saliva has been shown to facilitate and enhance viral infection. This likely occurs by saliva-mediated modulation of host responses into patterns favorable for viral infection and dissemination. Because of the rapid kinetics of tick-borne viral transmission, this modulation must occur as early as tick attachment and initiation of feeding. In this study, the gene expression profile of cutaneous bite-site lesions created by uninfected ticks were analyzed at 1, 3, 6, and 12 hours after Ixodes scapularis nymphal tick attachment to discover host pathways or responses potentially important in tick-borne viral establishment. Four milimeter ear biopsies from BALB/cJ mice infested with Ixodes scapularis nymphs were assayed using Affymetrix genechip 430A 2.0 arrays at 1, 3, 6, and 12 hours after infestation during a primary exposure. 3 mice were measured at each time point. Controls were 3 similarly housed but tick-free mice.
Project description:This experiment was undertaken to document changes in gene expression in the skin of tick-resistant Brahman (Bos indicus) and tick-susceptible Holstein-Friesian (Bos taurus) cattle prior to, and following, infestation with the cattle tick Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus Experiment Overall Design: RNA was extracted from skin samples of tick-naïve cattle (animals with no previous R.microplus exposure) and tick-infested cattle after a period of successive, heavy infestations with R. microplus. Skin samples taken from tick-infested animals were taken at sites where tick larvae (approximately 24 h old) were attached to the skin sample. Skin samples were of 8 mm diameter and full skin thickness (approximately 10 mm). RNA samples from 12 animals (3 tick-naive Holstein-Friesian, 3 tick-naive Brahman, 3 tick-infested Holstein-Friesian and 3 tick-infested Brahman) were processed and hybridised to individual slides.
Project description:Dikaryotic rust fungi maintain two distinct haploid nuclei for most of their life cycle, making their large, repeat-rich genomes difficult to assemble and phase. Here we present haplotype-phased, near chromosome-scale genome assemblies for the poplar rust pathogens Melampsora larici-populina 98AG31 and Melampsora allii-populina 12AY07, generated using PacBio HiFi sequencing and Hi-C-guided scaffolding. For each species, we resolve 18 chromosomes per haplotype, providing the first chromosome-level representations of poplar rust fungal species. M. larici-populina diploid assembly spans ~203 Mb, while M. allii-populina reaches ~416 Mb, with high completeness and strong collinearity between haplotypes.