Tag : Parasite

Maryland (US): The first inter-species signalling route between an arthropod parasite and host, where substances in the blood of a host animal drive the immunity and development of a parasite, has been discovered by research led by a team from the University of Maryland. In order to stop the spread of illnesses like Lyme disease, the study, which was released in the journal Science, suggests a potential target for anti-tick vaccinations or medicines. When a tick bearing the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi bites a human, the disease is typically contracted. The study showed that when ticks feed on the blood of mice infected with the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, which causes Lyme disease, a protein from the mouse immune system binds to receptors on tick cell surfaces and signals organs to develop more rapidly, producing an immune response long before the bacteria itself can begin to infect the tick. The findings also provide important new insights into the evolution of biomolecular interdependencies between species, and highlight, for the first time, both the integration of immunity and animal development and the adaptability of an ancient cell signalling system or pathway that all plant and animal cells use for sensing and responding to their environment. "This adaptive flexibility of a conserved cell signalling pathway was surprising," said Utpal Pal, senior author of the study and a professor at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine at College Park. "It is remarkable that this pathway that is present in everything from sponges to humans is so flexible, it can adapt to accept a ligand [a binding molecule] from another distant species. This tool that everybody has is being used in a way that we didn't imagine," Pal sa ...