TICK RESOURCES CORE
The Tick Resources Core provides essential support to all three research projects of this P01. During the first iteration of the Tick Immunity project, under the leadership of Dr. Ulrike Munderloh, the Core at the University of Minnesota supplied numerous Ixodes scapularis nymphs, tick cell lines, pathogen isolates and mutants, and plasmids to the rest of the Program Project team. Their group has made substantial contributions to the development and refinement of techniques for mutagenesis, plasmid-based complementation, and functional genomics for rickettsial agents, in addition to developing a membrane feeder system for ticks, and they have an outstanding record of distributing tick cell lines and microbial isolates to the scientific community, including during the P01’s first cycle.
These activities will continue during the second P01 cycle. Under Core Director Dr. Jonathan Oliver, and Co-Investigator Dr. Munderloh, the Core will provide essential support to the other Program Project sites, by providing and developing vector-based tools, such as various stages of I. scapularis ticks and tick cell lines, including ones that incorporate gene knockouts for the immunological and microbiological studies proposed by the research projects. The Core will also standardize gene knockdown technology for ticks, characterize existing tick cell lines, and use genome editing in cell lines. These materials and technologies will not only advance the ongoing Tick Immunity project and facilitate the discovery of novel paradigms in tick immunobiology and microbial pathogenesis, but will also benefit the broader research community.
Specific Aims
Aim 1: Provide in vivo materials and new tools for analysis of Ixodes scapularis by a) generating and providing
specific pathogen-free larval, nymphal and adult I. scapularis ticks, and b) developing and providing specific
gene knock-down ticks through microinjection or feeding and continue to standardize gene knock-down
technology by microinjection and oral delivery.
Aim 2: Provide and characterize existing tick cell lines and develop new cell lines to support in vitro analysis of
I. scapularis biology.