Pathogen prevalence and blood meal identification in Amblyomma ticks as a means of reservoir host determination for ehrlichial pathogens

Molecular identification of blood meal sources of ticks (Acari, Ixodidae) using cytochrome b gene as a genetic marker

“…In this study, the Cyt b gene was successfully proven as a discriminatory molecular marker for the identification of host DNA in ticks. Cyt b was selected as the target gene because of its track record in blood meal identification assays and its utilization in developing mammalian phylogeny ( Kirstein and Gray 1996 , Pierce et al 2009 ). Moreover, the Cyt b gene has been widely used to make reliable blood meal identification of arthropods inclusive ticks due to its high copy numbers as mitochondrial genes and sufficient genetic variations at the primary sequence level among vertebrate taxa ( Ngo and Kramer 2003 , Maleki-Ravasan et al 2009 ).…”

“…For further studies, it is recommended that ticks are collected from sites frequently visited by animals including the wallows, wildlife main trails and river banks to include a more diverse group of animals in order to generate better results ( Pichon et al 2005 , Pierce et al 2009 ). A bigger sample size with heterogeneous host species collection needs to be examined in parallel with different molecular markers to enable researchers to draw reliable conclusions and provide alternative views on the relationship between ticks and their natural hosts in Malaysia.…”

Rodent-targeted approaches to reduce acarological risk of human exposure to pathogen-infected Ixodes ticks

“…The alternative is to achieve this via collection and processing of questing ticks to determine not only their infection status but also identify the host species they fed on in the previous life stage. Based on the tremendous potential to improve our understanding of tick-host relationships as well as enzootic transmission cycles, many different identification techniques for blood remnants have been explored over the last two decades but identification of the host species that provided the larval blood meals for more than half of examined field collected questing nymphs has proven difficult (selected references include: Tobolewski et al., 1992 ; Kirstein and Gray, 1996 ; Pichon et al, 2003 ; Humair et al, 2007 ; Wickramasekara et al, 2008 ; Pierce et al, 2009 ; Schmidt et al, 2011 ; Gariepy et al., 2012 ; Scott et al, 2012 ; Önder et al, 2013 ; Collini et al, 2015 ; Hamer et al, 2015 ; LoGiudice et al, 2018 ; Heylen et al., 2019 ; Lumsden et al, 2021 ). Recent technological advances leading to increased detection sensitivity for partially degraded genetic material, combined with steadily improving bioinformatics databases for vertebrate animals, provide new opportunities for species identification of remnant blood in the majority of examined questing ticks ( Goethert et al, 2021 ; Goethert and Telford, 2022a , 2022b ).…”

Estudo em laboratório sobre a detecção do hábito alimentar para fases imaturas do carrapato Amblyomma cajennense (FABRICIUS, 1787)

“…Entretanto, a maioria dos estudos sobre a identificação de hospedeiros vertebrados como fontes de alimento e de possíveis fontes de agentes patogênicos concentram-se em pesquisas desenvolvidas com espécies de mosquitos (ALCAIDE et al, 2009;KENT, 2009;KENT e NORRIS, 2005 (KIRSTEIN e GRAY, 1996;PICHON et al, 2005;CADENAS et al, 2007;PIERCE et al, 2009;ALLAN et al, 2010).…”

“…).Há apenas três estudos conhecidos para a identificação do hábito alimentar realizados em carrapatos do gênero Amblyomma, todos foram realizados com uma espécie endêmica da América do Norte, o carrapato Amblyomma americanum. Os dois primeiros sãode Allan et al (2010) ePierce et al (2009), que usaram a técnica da PCR para amplificar fragmentos dos genes mitocondrial cyt b e ribossomal 18S rRNA, respectivamente, a partir do resquício de sangue do hospedeiro no carrapato. E o terceiro estudode WICKRAMASEKARA et al (2008), inclui a espectrometria de massa para detecção de proteínas do sangue residual do vertebrado no artrópode.Entretanto, a aplicação dessa técnica prevê o sequenciamento de proteínas com maior prevalência do sangue dos hospedeiros.…”