A method to identify protein antigens of Dermanyssus gallinae for the protection of birds from poultry mites

Abstract

The poultry red mite (PRM) Dermanyssus gallinae causes high economic losses and is among the most important parasites in poultry farming worldwide. Different chemical, physical, and biological strategies try to control the expansion of PRM. However, effective solutions to this problem still have to be found. Here, we present a method for the development of an immunological control strategy, based on the identification of mite protein antigens which elicit antibodies with anti-mite activity in the immunized chicken. Hens were immunized with different PRM protein extracts formulated with two different adjuvants, and IgY-antibodies were isolated from the eggs. A PRM in vitro feeding assay which used chicken blood spiked with these IgY-preparations was used to detect antibodies which caused PRM mortality. In vitro feeding of mites with IgY isolated from hens immunized with PRM extract formulated with one of the adjuvants showed a statistically significant increase in the mortality as compared to control mites. After the separation of total PRM extracts in two-dimensional gels, several protein spots were recognized by such IgY preparations. Ten protein spots were subjected to mass spectrometry (MS/MS) for the identification of the corresponding proteins. Complete protein sequences were deduced from genomic and transcriptomic assemblies derived from high throughput sequencing of total PRM DNA and RNA. The results may contribute to the development of an immunological control strategy of D. gallinae.

Distribution of poultry ectoparasites in industrial farms, farms, and private plots with different rearing technologies

“…The biological peculiarities of the red poultry mite such as descreet living, abilility to exist without food for a long time, rapid completion of the development cycle often lead to an outbreak of infestation among poultry (chickens, turkeys, quail, guineafowl, pigeons) in poultry farms. These data coincide with the results of studies by other researchers (Hobbenaghi et al, 2012;Collgros et al, 2013;Makert et al, 2016).…”

“…Around the world, it is registered in the regions up to 60° of northern latitude, where it is a significant threat to chickens. The red poultry mite is broadly distributed across the USA, countries in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia (Makert et al, 2016;Sparagano et al, 2014).…”

Uptake and fecal excretion of Coxiella burnetii by Ixodes ricinus and Dermacentor marginatus ticks

“…To study blood-feeding and vector competence of hematophagous arthropods under controlled laboratory conditions, several in vitro feeding systems have been established [31][32][33][34][35]. These methods allow detailed analyses of blood-borne pathogen transmission via insect or tick vectors.…”

Evaluation of vaccine delivery systems for inducing long-lived antibody responses to Dermanyssus gallinae antigen in laying hens

“…Moreover, studies show that vaccination has the potential to control PRM infestations of chickens. Experimental vaccination with protein extracts from D. gallinae mites Wright et al, 2009;Bartley et al, 2015;Makert et al, 2016), or with recombinant-expressed D. gallinae antigens (Bartley et al, 2009(Bartley et al, , 2012(Bartley et al, , 2015Wright et al, 2016), induces antigen-specific serum IgY that reduces mite survival when fed to mites in in vitro feeding devices. Furthermore, we recently showed that vaccination of laying hens, housed in a commercial-style poultry facility, with a native PRM soluble protein extract results in protective immunity, reducing average mite counts in cages of vaccinated birds by 78% compared to cages of control, unvaccinated birds (Bartley et al, 2017).…”