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Title: Genetic basis and impact of tick acaricide resistance

Author
item ROSARIO-CRUZ, RODRIGO - INIFAP JUITEPEC MX
item ALMAZAN-GARCIA, CONSUELO - U.AUTONOMA TAMAULIPAS MX
item Miller, Robert
item DOMINQUEZ-GARCIA, DELIA INES - INIFAP JUITEPEC MX
item HERNANDEZ-ORTIZ, RUBEN - INIFAP JUITEPEC MX
item DE LA FUENTA, JOSE - OKLAHOMA STATE UNIV

Submitted to: Frontiers in Bioscience
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/26/2008
Publication Date: 1/1/2009
Citation: Rosario-Cruz, R., Almazan-Garcia, C., Miller, R., Dominquez-Garcia, D., Hernandez-Ortiz, R., De La Fuente, J. 2009. Genetic basis and impact of tick acaricide resistance. Frontiers in Bioscience. 14:2657-2665

Interpretive Summary: Cross-border trade in cattle between Mexico and the United States is a multi-billion dollar industry. The presence of pesticide resistant cattle fever ticks in Mexico disrupts this trade because it increases the importation costs for Mexican ranchers and increases the risk of tick infestation in the United States. This is bad for the United States consumer. Currently, the cattle fever tick is eradicated from most of the United States. It is confined to a thin eradication zone along the Texas-Mexico border from Brownsville to Del Rio. In this work we describe some of the successful technologies developed to detect and better manage pesticide resistance in Mexican ticks. We also discuss some exciting new research that may allow better detection and control of cattle fever ticks in the future. This work will serve as a definitive publication for producers, policy makers, and scientists. It describes our current state of knowledge in this problem. It also describes where our research will be going in the future.

Technical Abstract: Acaricide resistance in the cattle tick, Boophilus microplus, has been studied for the last 20 years from the toxicology, metabolic, and genomic points of view, however, only few methods for molecular detection of resistance have been developed. Despite the relatively poor sensitivity for resistance detection, bioassays remain the method of choice for evaluation of susceptibility of tick populations to acaricides based on their toxicological response after exposure. Metabolic detoxication of acaricides is known to be mediated by multigene- families of enzymes such as GST Esterases and Mixed Function Oxidases (cytochrome P450). In addition, target site insensitivity has been studied on the sodium channel and acetylcholinesterase genes. The use of genomics to understand acaricide resistance in B. microplus will play a major role in unraveling the molecular mechanisms of resistance in the future. Instrumentation of functional genomic technologies will accelerate the development of new diagnostic and immunoprophylactic tools based on new vaccine candidates, and new molecular targets for acaricide resistance detection will be used in the design of better strategies for the control of ticks and tick-borne diseases in tropical and subtropical areas of Mexico.