Ticks and tick-borne diseases
Project Lead(s)
No data was found
Project Background
Ticks are important vectors of many pathogens to vertebrate hosts. Their vector competence is influenced by their high reproductive potential in laying many eggs, which hatch within 21-24 days post- oviposition. Insights into the embryogenesis of tick eggs will contribute to the control of ticks and tick-borne diseases. Past studies on the embryology of chelicerates have mainly focused on spiders, with ticks largely neglected.
Objectives/Research Areas
Research focuses on:
- Identifying genes that may be important in tick embryogenesis using a microarray-based approach on embryonated eggs of the parthenogenetic ixodid tick, Haemaphysalis longicornis
- Evaluating putative gene function using parental RNAi technology
- Metagenomic profiling of tick microbiome across the coastal savannah zone of Ghana
Key Publications
- Amoa-Bosompem M, Kobayashi D, Murota K, Faizah AN, Itokawa K, Fujita R, Osei JHN, Agbosu E, Pratt D, Kimura S, Kwofie KD, Ohashi M, Bonney JHK, Dadzie S, Sasaki T, Ohta N, Isawa H, Sawabe K, Iwanaga S. Entomological Assessment of the Status and Risk of Mosquito-borne Arboviral Transmission in Ghana. Viruses. Jan 27;12(2). pii: E147. doi: 10.3390/v12020147. (2020)
Team
External Collaborator(s)
Prof Naotoshi Tsuji, Professor, Department of Parasitology and tropical Medicine, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Japan.
Dr. Takeshi Hatta, Associate Professor, Department of Parasitology and tropical Medicine, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Japan.
Dr Jennifer Afrifa-Yamoah, CSIR-ARI, Ghana
Funder(s)
Japanese Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research-KAKENHI. (20H03001, 20F20093). Post-Doctoral Research Fellow. Insight into the embryogenesis of the parthenogenetic ixodid tick, Haemaphysalis longicornis based on a classic transcriptomic study. (2020-2024).
Matsumae International Foundation (MIF) Research Fellowship. Co-investigator. Metagenomic profiling of tick microbiome across the coastal savannah zone of Ghana. (2020-2023).