Ticks are an ancestral group of animals that can feed on a wide range of species, including primitive reptiles. This long co-evolutionary history between ticks and their different hosts has facilitated the development of communication pathways between the parasite and the animals it feeds on. Researchers at CIC bioGUNE have described the presence of a tick molecular receptor that uses a highly conserved signalling pathway and which is able to respond to signals from the host, in particular those related to 'danger' signals (presence of infection), which encompass both immune signals and those related to parasite metamorphosis.
The work, published in the journal Science, clarifies the evolutionary mechanisms in signalling pathways that are essential for performing key functions of environmental response (immune response), as well as for the post-embryonic development of ticks. It also demonstrates the flexibility of these pathways and their capacity to adapt by incorporating components that are able to add new functionalities and thus provide survival advantages for these parasites.
“One possible medium and long-term objective is to use this information to generate measures that disable this signalling pathway, which is essential for tick survival. Thus, they could be used as measures to control these parasites and, consequently, the diseases they transmit, such as Lyme borreliosis, amongst others”, explains Juan Anguita, an Ikerbasque researcher at CIC bioGUNE who took part in the study.
Molecular biology and large-scale data mining and analysis (Omics) tools, as well as other complementary methodologies, have been used to conduct the study. Much of the work has focused on the genetic manipulation of ticks by RNA interference microinjection, pioneered by the group led by Utpal Pal at the University of Maryland, College Park.
The work has been led by this same group, with the collaboration of researchers from Yale, the University of Maryland in Baltimore, the National Institutes of Health and the University of Minnesota. Collaboration with CIC bioGUNE began several years ago, with a research stay in the laboratory of Utpal Pal by the then PhD student Julen Tomás Cortázar, who is now in his postdoctoral stage in Dublin, and has continued over the years with close contacts between the laboratories of Drs Anguita and Pal.
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