Piper Emily K, Jackson Louise A, Bagnall Neil H, Kongsuwan Kritaya K, Lew Ala E, Jonsson Nicholas N
The University Of Queensland School of Veterinary Science, Brisbane 4072, Australia.
Vet Immunol Immunopathol. 2008 Nov 15;126(1-2):110-9. doi: 10.1016/j.vetimm.2008.06.011. Epub 2008 Jul 4.
The cattle tick Rhipicephalus microplus (formerly Boophilus microplus) is responsible for severe production losses to the cattle industry worldwide. It has long been known that different breeds of cattle can resist tick infestation to varying degrees; however, the mechanisms by which resistant cattle prevent heavy infestation are largely unknown. The aim of this study was to determine whether gene expression varied significantly between skin sampling sites (neck, chest and tail region), and whether changes in gene expression could be detected in samples taken at tick attachment sites (tick attached to skin sample) compared with samples taken from non-attachment sites (no tick attachment). We present here the results of an experiment examining the expression of a panel of forty-four genes in skin sections taken from Bos indicus (Brahman) cattle of known high resistance, and Bos taurus (Holstein-Friesian) cattle of known low resistance to the cattle tick. The forty-four genes chosen for this study included genes known to be involved in several immune processes, some structural genes, and some genes previously suggested to be of importance in tick resistance by other researchers. The expression of fifteen gene transcripts increased significantly in Holstein-Friesian skin samples at tick attachment sites. The higher expression of many genes involved in innate inflammatory processes in the Holstein-Friesian animals at tick attachment sites suggests this breed is exhibiting a non-directed pathological response to infestation. Of the forty-four genes analysed, no transcripts were detected in higher abundance at tick attachment sites in the Brahman cattle compared with similar samples from the Holstein-Friesian group, nor difference between attachment site and non-attachment site samples within the Brahman group. The results presented here suggest that the means by which these two cattle breeds respond to tick infestation differ and warrant further investigation.
微小牛蜱（原名微小扇头蜱）给全球养牛业造成了严重的生产损失。长期以来，人们都知道不同品种的牛对蜱虫侵袭的抵抗力不同；然而，抗性牛防止大量蜱虫寄生的机制在很大程度上尚不清楚。本研究的目的是确定皮肤采样部位（颈部、胸部和尾部区域）之间基因表达是否存在显著差异，以及与未附着部位（无蜱虫附着）采集的样本相比，在蜱虫附着部位（蜱虫附着在皮肤样本上）采集的样本中是否能检测到基因表达的变化。我们在此展示了一项实验的结果，该实验检测了一组44个基因在已知高抗性的印度瘤牛（婆罗门牛）和已知对牛蜱低抗性的荷斯坦-弗里生牛皮肤切片中的表达情况。本研究选择的44个基因包括已知参与多种免疫过程的基因、一些结构基因以及其他研究人员先前认为对蜱虫抗性很重要的一些基因。在荷斯坦-弗里生牛蜱虫附着部位的皮肤样本中，15个基因转录本的表达显著增加。在荷斯坦-弗里生牛蜱虫附着部位，许多参与先天性炎症过程的基因表达较高，这表明该品种对蜱虫侵袭表现出一种非定向的病理反应。在分析的44个基因中，与荷斯坦-弗里生组的类似样本相比，婆罗门牛蜱虫附着部位未检测到转录本丰度更高的情况，婆罗门组内附着部位和未附着部位样本之间也没有差异。此处呈现的结果表明，这两个牛品种对蜱虫侵袭的反应方式不同，值得进一步研究。
