Tick-pathogen interactions and vector competence: Identification of molecular drivers for Tick-borne diseases

Jose de La Fuente (1, 2) , Sandra Antunes (3) , Sarah Bonnet (4) , Alejandro Cabezas Cruz (4, 5, 6) , Ana G. Domingos (3) , Agustin Estrada-Peña (7) , Nicholas Johnson (8, 9) , Katherine M. Kocan (2) , Karen L. Mansfield (8, 10) , Ard M. Nijhof (11) , Anna Papa (12) , Nataliia Rudenko (5) , Margarita Villar (1) , Pilar Alberdi (1) , Alessandra Torina (13) , Nieves Ayllón (1) , Marie Vancova (5) , Maryna Golovchenko (5) , Libor Grubhoffer (5, 6) , Santo Caracappa (13) , Anthony R. Fooks (8, 10) , Christian Gortazar (1) , Ryan O. M. Rego (5, 6)

1 IREC - Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos
2 Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Center for Veterinary Health Sciences
3 IHMT - Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical
4 BIPAR - Biologie moléculaire et immunologie parasitaires et fongiques
5 Biology Centre, Institute of Parasitology
6 Faculty of ScienceˇCeské Budeˇ jovice, Czechia
7 FCV - Facultad de ciencias veterinarias [Sante Fe]
8 APHA - Animal and Plant Health Agency [Addlestone, UK]
9 Faculty of Health and Medicine
10 Institute of Infection and Global Health Liverpool
11 Institute for Parasitology and Tropical Veterinary Medicine
12 Department of Microbiology, Medical School
13 National Center of Reference for Anaplasma, Babesia, Rickettsia and Theileria

Ticks and the pathogens they transmit constitute a growing burden for human and animal health worldwide. Vector competence is a component of vectorial capacity and depends on genetic determinants affecting the ability of a vector to transmit a pathogen. These determinants affect traits such as tick-host-pathogen and susceptibility to pathogen infection. Therefore, the elucidation of the mechanisms involved in tick-pathogen interactions that affect vector competence is essential for the identification of molecular drivers for tick-borne diseases. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of tick-pathogen molecular interactions for bacteria, viruses, and protozoa affecting human and animal health. Additionally, the impact of tick microbiome on these interactions was considered. Results show that different pathogens evolved similar strategies such as manipulation of the immune response to infect vectors and facilitate multiplication and transmission. Furthermore, some of these strategies may be used by pathogens to infect both tick and mammalian hosts. Identification of interactions that promote tick survival, spread, and pathogen transmission provides the opportunity to disrupt these interactions and lead to a reduction in tick burden and the prevalence of tick-borne diseases. Targeting some of the similar mechanisms used by the pathogens for infection and transmission by ticks may assist in development of preventative strategies against multiple tick-borne diseases.

Mots clés: tick; Anaplasma; flavivirus; Babesia; Borrelia; Microbiome; immunology; vaccine

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Jose de La Fuente, Sandra Antunes, Sarah Bonnet, Alejandro Cabezas Cruz, Ana G. Domingos, et al.. Tick-pathogen interactions and vector competence: Identification of molecular drivers for Tick-borne diseases. Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, 2017, 7, ⟨10.3389/fcimb.2017.00114⟩. ⟨hal-01607008⟩