Abstract
Poultry red mites (Dermanyssus gallinae, PRM) are dangerous ectoparasites that infest chickens and threaten the poultry industry worldwide. PRMs usually develop resistance to chemical acaricides, necessitating the development of more effective preventive agents, and vaccination could be an alternative strategy for controlling PRMs. The suitability of plasma membrane proteins expressed in the midguts as vaccine antigens was evaluated because these molecules are exposed to antibodies in the ingested blood and the binding of antibodies could potentially induce direct damage to midgut tissue and indirect damage via inhibition of the functions of target molecules. Therefore, in the present study, a copper transporter 1-like molecule (Dg-Ctr1) was identified and its efficacy as a vaccine antigen was assessed in vitro. Dg-Ctr1 mRNA was expressed in the midguts and ovaries and in all the life stages, and flow cytometric analysis indicated that Dg-Ctr1 was expressed on the plasma membrane. Importantly, nymphs fed on plasma derived from chickens immunized with the recombinant protein of the extracellular region of Dg-Ctr1 showed a significant reduction in the survival rate. These data indicate that the application of Dg-Ctr1 as a vaccine antigen could reduce the number of nymphs in the farms, contributing to reduction in the economic losses caused by PRMs in the poultry industry. To establish an effective vaccination strategy, the acaricidal effects of the combined use of Dg-Ctr1 with chemical acaricides or other vaccine antigens must be examined.
Highlights
The poultry red mite (Dermanyssus gallinae, PRM) is one of the most harmful haematophagous ectoparasites of chickens
All animal experiments were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, Hokkaido University (Approval number: 20-0051), and all experiments were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, which has been fully accredited by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International (AAALAC)
Previous reports have demonstrated that copper ions play pivotal roles in arthropod physiologies by mediating biological activities, including respiration, pigmentation and immunity (Muttkowski, 1921; Christensen et al, 2005; Lu et al, 2014; Sugumaran and Barek, 2016), and have reported the acaricidal effects of synthetic copper-based nanoparticles on ticks since excess copper ion is toxic (Ramyadevi et al, 2011; Ingle et al, 2014)
Summary
The poultry red mite (Dermanyssus gallinae, PRM) is one of the most harmful haematophagous ectoparasites of chickens. Mass infestation by PRMs causes various harmful effects, such as anaemia, resulting in significant loss of productivity in poultry farming. The current acaricide-based methods used for PRM prevention are usually insufficient since PRMs hide in cracks and crevices after sucking blood and develop resistance to the acaricides. Vaccination has been recently highlighted as a promising strategy for the control of ectoparasites, including PRMs, and several studies have reported antigen candidates and their efficacies (Bartley et al, 2012; Wright et al, 2016; Lima-Barbero et al, 2019). Vaccination strategies have to be improved, and evaluation of more effective vaccine antigens is essential to increase the efficacies of these vaccines
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