Lyme disease transmission by severely impaired ticks
It has been demonstrated that impairing protein synthesis using drugs targeted against tRNA amino acid synthetases presents a promising strategy for the treatment of a wide variety of parasitic diseases, including malaria and toxoplasmosis. This is the first study evaluating tRNA synthetases as pote...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The Royal Society
2022-02-01
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| Series: | Open Biology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsob.210244 |
| _version_ | 1827957881102663680 |
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| author | Jan Perner Matej Kucera Helena Frantova Veronika Urbanova Petr Kopacek Radek Sima |
| author_facet | Jan Perner Matej Kucera Helena Frantova Veronika Urbanova Petr Kopacek Radek Sima |
| author_sort | Jan Perner |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | It has been demonstrated that impairing protein synthesis using drugs targeted against tRNA amino acid synthetases presents a promising strategy for the treatment of a wide variety of parasitic diseases, including malaria and toxoplasmosis. This is the first study evaluating tRNA synthetases as potential drug targets in ticks. RNAi knock-down of all tested tRNA synthetases had a strong deleterious phenotype on Ixodes ricinus feeding. Our data indicate that tRNA synthetases represent attractive, anti-tick targets warranting the design of selective inhibitors. Further, we tested whether these severely impaired ticks were capable of transmitting Borrelia afzelii spirochaetes. Interestingly, biologically handicapped I. ricinus nymphs transmitted B. afzelii in a manner quantitatively sufficient to develop a systemic infection in mice. These data suggest that initial blood-feeding, despite the incapability of ticks to fully feed and salivate, is sufficient for activating B. afzelii from a dormant to an infectious mode, enabling transmission and dissemination in host tissues. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T15:27:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7382e869fb034f038019bacdbf738817 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2046-2441 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T15:27:57Z |
| publishDate | 2022-02-01 |
| publisher | The Royal Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Open Biology |
| spelling | doaj.art-7382e869fb034f038019bacdbf7388172023-04-28T11:07:00ZengThe Royal SocietyOpen Biology2046-24412022-02-0112210.1098/rsob.210244Lyme disease transmission by severely impaired ticksJan Perner0Matej Kucera1Helena Frantova2Veronika Urbanova3Petr Kopacek4Radek Sima5Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Ceske Budejovice 37005, Czech RepublicInstitute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Ceske Budejovice 37005, Czech RepublicInstitute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Ceske Budejovice 37005, Czech RepublicInstitute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Ceske Budejovice 37005, Czech RepublicInstitute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Ceske Budejovice 37005, Czech RepublicInstitute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Ceske Budejovice 37005, Czech RepublicIt has been demonstrated that impairing protein synthesis using drugs targeted against tRNA amino acid synthetases presents a promising strategy for the treatment of a wide variety of parasitic diseases, including malaria and toxoplasmosis. This is the first study evaluating tRNA synthetases as potential drug targets in ticks. RNAi knock-down of all tested tRNA synthetases had a strong deleterious phenotype on Ixodes ricinus feeding. Our data indicate that tRNA synthetases represent attractive, anti-tick targets warranting the design of selective inhibitors. Further, we tested whether these severely impaired ticks were capable of transmitting Borrelia afzelii spirochaetes. Interestingly, biologically handicapped I. ricinus nymphs transmitted B. afzelii in a manner quantitatively sufficient to develop a systemic infection in mice. These data suggest that initial blood-feeding, despite the incapability of ticks to fully feed and salivate, is sufficient for activating B. afzelii from a dormant to an infectious mode, enabling transmission and dissemination in host tissues.https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsob.210244Lyme diseaseborreliosisBorreliaticktransmissiontRNA synthetase |
| spellingShingle | Jan Perner Matej Kucera Helena Frantova Veronika Urbanova Petr Kopacek Radek Sima Lyme disease transmission by severely impaired ticks Open Biology Lyme disease borreliosis Borrelia tick transmission tRNA synthetase |
| title | Lyme disease transmission by severely impaired ticks |
| title_full | Lyme disease transmission by severely impaired ticks |
| title_fullStr | Lyme disease transmission by severely impaired ticks |
| title_full_unstemmed | Lyme disease transmission by severely impaired ticks |
| title_short | Lyme disease transmission by severely impaired ticks |
| title_sort | lyme disease transmission by severely impaired ticks |
| topic | Lyme disease borreliosis Borrelia tick transmission tRNA synthetase |
| url | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsob.210244 |
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