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Research Project: BIOLOGY AND CONTROL OF TICKS OF VETERINARY AND HUMAN IMPORTANCE

Location: Tick and Biting Fly Research

Title: Immunological response of tick-naive white-tailed deer to infestation with Dermacentor albipictus, a one host tick

Authors
item Olafson, Pia
item Freeman, Jeanne -
item Pruett Jr, John -
item Lohmeyer, Kimberly
item Pound, Joe
item Davey, Ronald
item Knowles, Donald

Submitted to: National Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: June 11, 2011
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: White-tailed deer are competent alternative hosts for cattle fever ticks, and their abundance throughout south Texas is compromising efforts of the Cattle Fever Tick Eradication Program (CFTEP). We artificially infested white-tailed deer with a model one-host tick, Dermacentor albipictus (winter tick), in an effort to understand the tick-host interface. Specifically, we evaluated whether deer can acquire immunological resistance to ticks upon repeated exposure and monitored the localized skin response of deer to tick infestation. Since deer respond to ectoparasites by extensively grooming themselves, we conducted these experiments while preventing the hosts from the grooming behavior. Tick biological parameters were monitored to define the acquired resistance phenotype, while skin-specific expression of cytokines typically involved in host immunological response was evaluated by real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR over the course of a primary and a repeated tick infestation to describe the host cutaneous response. Data and biological relevance will be discussed.

   

 
Project Team
Pound, Joe - Mat
Lohmeyer, Kimberly
Li, Andrew
Miller, Robert
Olafson, Pia
Perez De Leon, Adalberto - Beto
Goolsby, John
Thomas, Donald
Osbrink, Weste
Showler, Allan
 
Publications
   Publications
 
Related National Programs
  Animal Health (103)
  Veterinary, Medical and Urban Entomology (104)
 
Related Projects
   PROPRIETARY WHITE-TAILED DEER COLLAR ASSEMBLY
   SERUM CONCENTRATION OF IVERMECTIN IN PASTURED CATTLE PROVIDED FREE-ACCESS TO AN IVERMECTIN-MEDICATED PROTEIN OR MINERAL BLOCK SUPPLEMENT
   NATIVE RANGE COLLECTION AND EVALUATION OF CANDIDATE BIOLOGICAL CONTROL AGENTS FOR ARUNDO DONAX
   DEVELOPMENT OF MASS REARING METHODS FOR THE BIOLOGICAL CONTROL AGENT OF ARUNDO DONAX, RHIZASPIDIOTUS DONACIS, THE ARUNDO SCALE
   KERR WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREA - CONTROL OF TICKS FEEDING ON WHITE-TAILED DEER
   ASSESSMENT OF FECAL CHEMISTRY CHANGES IN FEVER TICK INFESTED CATTLE USING NEAR INFRARED REFLECTANCE SPECTROSCOPY
   ROTUNDA DOOR CONTROL SYSTEM
   ASSESSMENT OF THE LARVAL TARSAL TEST AND SEARCH FOR SINGLE NUCLEOTIDE MUTATIONS IN PYRETHROID-RESISTANT RHIPICEPHALUS MICROPLUS
   EVALUATION OF NOVEL ACARICIDE FOR CONTROLLING CATTLE FEVER TICKS, RHIPICEPHALUS (BOOPHILUS) MICROPLUS AND R(B) ANNULATUS, AND LONE STAR TICK
   USE OF CANINE TO DETECT AND ALERT TO THE PRESENCE OF CATTLE INFESTED WITH CATTLE FEVER TICKS, RHIPICEPHALUS (B.) ANNULATUS AND MICROPLUS
 
 
Last Modified: 05/24/2013
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