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ARS Home » Plains Area » Kerrville, Texas » Knipling-Bushland U.S. Livestock Insects Research Laboratory » LAPRU » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #366710
Research Project: Cattle Fever Tick Control and Eradication

Location: Livestock Arthropod Pests Research

Title: Characterization of voltage sensitive sodium channel gene of Haemaphysalis longicornis (Acari: Ixodidae), a new invasive tick species in the United States

Author
item KLAFKE, GUILHERME - Department Of Energy
item Tidwell, Jason
item Miller, Robert
item FONSECA, DINA - Rutgers University
item BONILLA, DENISE - Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)
item Perez De Leon, Adalberto - Beto

Submitted to: World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/7/2019
Publication Date: 7/7/2019
Citation: Klafke, G.M., Tidwell, J.P., Miller, R., Fonseca, D., Bonilla, D.L., Perez De Leon, A.A. 2019. Characterization of voltage sensitive sodium channel gene of Haemaphysalis longicornis (Acari: Ixodidae), a new invasive tick species in the United States. World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology. 2019:23.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Haemaphysalis longicornis (Neumann), the Asian longhorned tick, is a three-host tick species that originates from temperate and subtropical areas of East Asia where it infests and transmits zoonotic pathogens to livestock and humans. H. longicornis was detected in the United States outside of quarantine for the first time on August 2017 infesting sheep in New Jersey (NJ). Since then, this invasive tick has been detected in Arkansas, Connecticut, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. Treatment of livestock with acaricidal drugs has been the main strategy to control ticks. However, the development of acaricide resistance needs to be anticipated. Acaricide resistance is an inherited phenotypic trait frequently conferred by mutations in the pesticide’s target sites. Pyrethroid resistance in several arthropod species can be caused by conserved mutations in the voltage sensitive sodium channel gene (vssc). In order to detect future development of pyrethroid resistance in H. longicornis using molecular techniques, our objective was to characterize the vssc gene. RNA was obtained from a pool of H. longicornis collected in NJ. Degenerate primers were used to amplify two conserved segments of the vssc gene and a 3’/5’ rapid amplification of cDNA ends approach was used to get the full-length transcript. The translated amino acid sequences and the putative protein secondary structure was compared to the homologs vssc of the tropical cattle tick, Rhipicephalus microplus (Canestrini), the brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille) and other parasitic arthropods. No mutations previously associated to pyrethroid resistance were detected in the NJ H. longicornis samples analyzed. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first characterization of a gene in H. longicornis associated with acaricide resistance.