Immunization of cattle with Ra86 impedes Rhipicephalus appendiculatus nymphal-to-adult molting
Date
2012Author
Olds, Cassandra
Mwaura, Stephen
Crowder, David
Odongo, David
van Oers, Monique
Owen, Jeb
Bishop, Richard
Daubenberger, Claudia
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Commercial vaccines based on the tick gut protein Bm86 have been successful in controlling the onehost
tick Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus and provide heterologous protection against certain other
non-target ixodid tick species. This cross protection, however, does not extend to the three-host tick
R. appendiculatus, the vector of the protozoan parasite Theileria parva. When transmitted to cattle, T.
parva causes the often fatal disease East Coast fever. Here, we used insect cell-expressed recombinant
versions of the R. appendiculatus homologs of Bm86, named Ra86, to vaccinate cattle. We measured
multiple fitness characteristics for ticks that were fed on cattle Ra86-vaccinated or unvaccinated. The
Ra86 vaccination of cattle significantly decreased the molting success of nymphal ticks to the adult stage.
Modeling simulations based on our empirical data suggest that repeated vaccinations using Ra86 could
reduce tick populations over successive generations. Vaccination with Ra86 could thus form a component
of integrated control strategies for R. appendiculatus leading to a reduction in use of environmentally
damaging acaricides
URI
www.elsevier.com/locate/ttbdishttp://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/14974
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22658857
Citation
Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases 3 (2012) 170– 178Publisher
© 2012 Elsevier GmbH School of biological sciences