A tick antioxidant facilitates the Lyme disease agent's successful migration from the mammalian host to the arthropod vector.
The tick Ixodes scapularis is an efficient vector for microbes, including the Lyme disease agent Borrelia burgdorferi. Ticks engorging on vertebrates induce recruitment of inflammatory cells to the bite site. For efficient transmission to the vector, pathogens have to traffic through this complex feeding site while avoiding the deleterious effects of immune cells. We show that a tick protein, Salp25D, plays a critical role-in the mammalian host-for acquisition of Borrelia burgdorferi by the vector. Silencing salp25D in tick salivary glands impaired spirochete acquisition by ticks engorging on B. burgdorferi-infected mice. Immunizing mice against Salp25D also decreased Borrelia acquisition by I. scapularis. Salp25D detoxified reactive oxygen species at the vector-pathogen-host interface, thereby providing a survival advantage to B. burgdorferi at the tick feeding site in mice. These data demonstrate that pathogens can exploit arthropod molecules to defuse mammalian responses in order to successfully enter the vector.
Narasimhan
Sukanya
S
Section of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
Sukumaran
Bindu
B
Bozdogan
Ulas
U
Thomas
Venetta
V
Liang
Xianping
X
DePonte
Kathleen
K
Marcantonio
Nancy
N
Koski
Raymond A
RA
Anderson
John F
JF
Kantor
Fred
F
Fikrig
Erol
E
D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D025065:Borrelia burgdorferi / Q000502:physiology*; D004064:Digestive System / Q000382:microbiology; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D018884:Ixodes / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000502:physiology; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000382:microbiology*; D008322:Mammals; D051379:Mice; D012330:RNA, Double-Stranded / Q000235:genetics; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D012469:Salivary Glands / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology; D013144:Spirochaetales / Q000472:pathogenicity
D000975:Antioxidants; D019476:Insect Proteins; D012330:RNA, Double-Stranded; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C439814:gph protein, Ixodes scapularis