Dermal secretion physiology in Metastriata ticks; thermoregulation in the lone star tick Amblyomma americanum

Abstract Ticks are blood feeding ectoparasites that transmit a wide range of pathogens. The lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum, is one of the most widely distributed ticks in the Midwest and Eastern United States. Lone star ticks, like most three-host ixodid ticks, can survive in harsh environments for extended periods without consuming a blood meal. Physiological mechanisms that allow them to survive during hot and dry season include thermal tolerance and water homeostasis. Large quantity of dermal fluid secretions induced by mechanical stimulation of tick legs has been described in metastriate ticks including Amblyomma. We hypothesize that a function of tick dermal secretion is similar to the sweating in large homeothermal animals. In this study, we found that a contact with a heat probe at 45oC can trigger dermal secretion. We demonstrated that dermal secretion plays a role in evaporative cooling when ticks are exposed to high temperature. We observed that direct contact to a heat probe for 5 seconds at ~ 52oC caused an exhaustive dermal secretion with ~ 4% loss of body weight and resulted in the lethality in 24-hour, indicating that the secretion is associated with significant costs of water loss. We identified type II dermal glands having paired two cells forming large glandular structures. The secretion is triggered by an injection of serotonin and the serotonin-mediated secretion was suppressed by a pretreatment of Ouabain, a Na/K-ATPase blocker, implying that the secretion is controlled by serotonin and the downstream Na/K-ATPase.

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The bacterial community of the lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum)

Parasites & Vectors ◽

10.1186/s13071-020-04550-z ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

Author(s):

L. Paulina Maldonado-Ruiz ◽

Saraswoti Neupane ◽

Yoonseong Park ◽

Ludek Zurek

Keyword(s):

Bacterial Community ◽

Amblyomma Americanum ◽

Rrna Gene ◽

Culturable Bacteria ◽

Core Microbiome ◽

Lone Star Tick ◽

Animal Pathogens ◽

Wide Range ◽

Culture Independent ◽

Culture Dependent

Abstract Background The lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum), an important vector of a wide range of human and animal pathogens, is very common throughout the East and Midwest of the USA. Ticks are known to carry non-pathogenic bacteria that may play a role in their vector competence for pathogens. Several previous studies using the high throughput sequencing (HTS) technologies reported the commensal bacteria in a tick midgut as abundant and diverse. In contrast, in our preliminary survey of the field collected adult lone star ticks, we found the number of culturable/viable bacteria very low. Methods We aimed to analyze the bacterial community of A. americanum by a parallel culture-dependent and a culture-independent approach applied to individual ticks. Results We analyzed 94 adult females collected in eastern Kansas and found that 60.8% of ticks had no culturable bacteria and the remaining ticks carried only 67.7 ± 42.8 colony-forming units (CFUs)/tick representing 26 genera. HTS of the 16S rRNA gene resulted in a total of 32 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) with the dominant endosymbiotic genera Coxiella and Rickettsia (> 95%). Remaining OTUs with very low abundance were typical soil bacterial taxa indicating their environmental origin. Conclusions No correlation was found between the CFU abundance and the relative abundance from the culture-independent approach. This suggests that many culturable taxa detected by HTS but not by culture-dependent method were not viable or were not in their culturable state. Overall, our HTS results show that the midgut bacterial community of A. americanum is very poor without a core microbiome and the majority of bacteria are endosymbiotic.

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Inward rectifier potassium (Kir) channels mediate salivary gland function and blood feeding in the lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum

PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases ◽

10.1371/journal.pntd.0007153 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. e0007153 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Zhilin Li ◽

Kevin R. Macaluso ◽

Lane D. Foil ◽

Daniel R. Swale

Keyword(s):

Salivary Gland ◽

Blood Feeding ◽

Amblyomma Americanum ◽

Inward Rectifier ◽

Lone Star Tick ◽

Salivary Gland Function ◽

Kir Channels ◽

Gland Function

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Effects of Silica-Based CimeXa and Drione Dusts Against Lone Star Tick (Ixodida: Ixodidae) on Cattle

Journal of Medical Entomology ◽

10.1093/jme/tjz180 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Allan T Showler ◽

Jessica L Harlien

Keyword(s):

Egg Production ◽

Life Stage ◽

Amblyomma Americanum ◽

Boophilus Microplus ◽

Ixodid Ticks ◽

Life Stages ◽

Lone Star Tick ◽

Desiccant Dust ◽

Cattle Fever Tick ◽

Calf Skin

Abstract Ixodid ticks vector pathogens of humans, livestock, and wildlife, and occur in tropical and temperate regions worldwide. We used the lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum (L.) (Ixodida: Ixodidae), as a model for other ixodid species, including the southern cattle fever tick, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus (Canestrini) (Ixodida: Ixodidae). We assessed the lethality of CimeXa, an inert silica-based desiccant dust, and Drione, a silica-based desiccant dust with pyrethrin and piperonyl butoxide (PBO), against A. americanum larvae and nymphs on calves. CimeXa was highly lethal to larvae released onto shaved calf skin 72–96 h previously, and moderately toxic to nymphs. It did not affect immature life stages treated after they began feeding because desiccation was offset by ingestion of blood. Being inert, CimeXa can protect cattle from infestation before feeding occurs for a potentially indefinite period of time. Drione killed immatures within 24 h when released on treated skin and when applied to feeding ixodids because of the pyrethrin and PBO (PBO will also reduce resistance to pyrethrin if it develops). When CimeXa was applied to calves with the hair intact, ≈90% and ≈70% of A. americanum larvae and nymphs, respectively, were killed within 24 h and Drione killed 100% of each life stage. Drione also prevented and drastically reduced egg production and hatching. While CimeXa protects against infestation by immatures, Drione will also control ticks that are feeding. When pyrethrin and PBO in Drione eventually degrade, the silica aerogel carrier can continue to protect against infestation indefinitely.

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Effect of methoprene and 20-hydroxyecdysone on salivary gland development of the lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum (L.)

Journal of Insect Physiology ◽

10.1016/0022-1910(89)90080-2 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 35 (4) ◽

pp. 313-320 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Kent S. Shelby ◽

Katherine M. Kocan ◽

John A. Bantle ◽

John R. Sauer

Keyword(s):

Salivary Gland ◽

Amblyomma Americanum ◽

Lone Star Tick ◽

Gland Development

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Experimental Infection of Amblyomma americanum (Acari: Ixodidae) With Bourbon Virus (Orthomyxoviridae: Thogotovirus)

Journal of Medical Entomology ◽

10.1093/jme/tjaa191 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Marvin S Godsey ◽

Dominic Rose ◽

Kristin L Burkhalter ◽

Nicole Breuner ◽

Angela M Bosco-Lauth ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Infectious Virus ◽

Vector Competence ◽

Blood Feeding ◽

Human Case ◽

Amblyomma Americanum ◽

Live Virus ◽

Active Life ◽

Series Of Experiments ◽

Transstadial Transmission ◽

Very High

Abstract Following the recent discovery of Bourbon virus (BRBV) as a human pathogen, and the isolation of the virus from Amblyomma americanum (L.) collected near the location of a fatal human case, we undertook a series of experiments to assess the laboratory vector competence of this tick species for BRBV. Larval ticks were infected using an immersion technique, and transstadial transmission of virus to the nymphal and then to the adult stages was demonstrated. Transstadially infected nymphs transmitted virus to adult ticks at very high rates during cofeeding, indicating the presence of infectious virus in the saliva of engorging ticks. Vertical transmission by transstadially infected females to their progeny occurred, but at a low rate. Rabbits fed on by infected ticks of all active life stages developed high titers of antibody to the virus, demonstrating host exposure to BRBV antigens/live virus during tick blood feeding. These results demonstrate that A. americanum is a competent vector of BRBV and indicate that cofeeding could be critical for enzootic maintenance.

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A Novel Phospholipase A2Activity in Saliva of the Lone Star Tick,Amblyomma americanum(L.)

Experimental Parasitology ◽

10.1006/expr.1997.4201 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 87 (2) ◽

pp. 121-132 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

A.S. Bowman ◽

C.L. Gengler ◽

M.R. Surdick ◽

K. Zhu ◽

R.C. Essenberg ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Amblyomma Americanum ◽

Lone Star Tick

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Why so many unknown genes? Partitioning orphans from a representative transcriptome of the lone star tick Amblyomma americanum

BMC Genomics ◽

10.1186/1471-2164-14-135 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 135 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

Amanda K Gibson ◽

Zach Smith ◽

Clay Fuqua ◽

Keith Clay ◽

John K Colbourne

Keyword(s):

Amblyomma Americanum ◽

Lone Star Tick

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Evaluation of Seven Complex Pennisetum Hybrids for Container and Landscape Performance in the Pacific Northwestern United States

HortTechnology ◽

10.21273/horttech.23.4.525 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 23 (4) ◽

pp. 525-528 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Ryan N. Contreras ◽

Jim Owen ◽

Wayne Hanna ◽

Brian Schwartz

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Growth Form ◽

Field Performance ◽

Eastern United States ◽

Randomized Experiments ◽

Climatic Regions ◽

The Pacific ◽

Wide Range ◽

Complex Hybrid ◽

Market Preference

Ornamental grasses such as fountaingrass or napiergrass, collectively called pennisetums, belong to the genus Pennisetum, which is a diverse genus with over 80 species adapted to a wide range of climatic regions and known for its drought tolerance. Breeding efforts have led to improvements such as more intense purple foliage color, disease resistance, and apparent sterility. These improved forms have been developed and tested in the eastern United States. The objective of this research was to evaluate container and field performance of seven new complex hybrid pennisetums in the Pacific northwestern United States. Two completely randomized experiments with three replications were conducted over 2 years (2010 and 2011) at two locations. We selected seven trispecific hybrid pennisetums resulting from interploid and interspecific crossing that were given accessions Tift 5, Tift 6, Tift 10, Tift 11, Tift, 13, Tift 15, and Tift 26. Experiment 1 evaluated container performance in Corvallis, OR, while Expt. 2 evaluated field performance in Aurora, OR. Size index (SI), growth form rating, and color rating were collected and analyzed separately by location. In the container study, significant differences were observed among selections for growth form in 2010 and color ratings in both 2010 and 2011. In 2010, Tift 6, Tift 11, Tift 13, and Tift 15 had the highest growth form rating. For color rating, Tift 5, Tift 10, and Tift 26 were among the four highest rated selections in both years. In the field study, Tift 5, Tift 10, Tift 11, and Tift 26 had the highest SI when data were pooled over the 2 years, but all selections reached acceptable size for landscape use during both years of the study. Similarly, there were color differences among selections with Tift 5, Tift 10, Tift 15, and Tift 26 being highest rated. None of the selections survived below winter temperatures of −5 °C at either location during either year of the study. Our evaluations indicate that these selections have potential in the Pacific northwestern United States as annuals. Differences in complex hybrid pennisetums were observed in SI, growth form rating, and color rating. These differences demonstrated the variation among selections and will allow producers to choose desired traits based on market preference.

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