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St John HK, Masuoka P, Jiang J, Takhampunya R, Klein TA, Kim HC, Chong ST, Song JW, Kim YJ, Farris CM, Richards AL. Geographic distribution and modeling of ticks in the Republic of Korea and the application of tick models towards understanding the distribution of associated pathogenic agents. Ticks Tick Borne Dis 2021; 12:101686. [PMID: 33667830 DOI: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2021.101686] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2020] [Revised: 01/11/2021] [Accepted: 02/01/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Encounters with ticks harboring pathogenic agents have demonstrated increasing public health implications. Tick surveillance in the Republic of Korea (ROK) is essential for determining tick distributions and the potential regions where tick-borne pathogens may be found. Extensive tick collections (tick drags and tick flagging) were previously performed by Force Health Protection & Preventive Medicine (FHP&PM), Medical Activity-Korea (MEDDAC-K)/65th Medical Brigade (MED BDE) personnel, in collaboration with the Public Health Activity-Korea in the ROK. A total of 144,131 ticks were collected from 2,019 locations during 2004 to 2016. The associated location data (GPS coordinates) for each of the collection sites were incorporated into distribution maps using ArcGIS and combined with environmental data in the Maxent ecological niche modeling program (n = 733 geographical unique locations from 1,429 presence records/collection locations) to produce estimates of tick distributions for each species. The predominant tick species found and modeled were, in order of prevalence: Haemaphysalis longicornis, H. flava, Ixodes nipponensis, H. phasiana, I. turdus, Amblyomma testudinarium, H. japonica, and I. persulcatus. Haemaphysalis longicornis, H. flava, and I. nipponensis were the most widely distributed and most commonly collected species of ticks. The maps and models of suitable habitat regions produced in this study provide a better understanding of where there are potential risks of encountering a particular tick species, and which, as demonstrated herein with rickettsiae, can be used to study tick-pathogen dynamics of diseases. Knowledge of the distribution of ticks is important in the ROK because of the presence of tick-borne diseases, such as severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome, tick-borne encephalitis, rickettsioses, and borrelioses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heidi K St John
- Viral and Rickettsial Diseases Department, Naval Medical Research Center, Silver Spring, MD, 20910, USA; Henry Jackson Foundation, Bethesda, MD, 20817, USA.
| | - Penny Masuoka
- Henry Jackson Foundation, Bethesda, MD, 20817, USA; Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics Department, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, 20814, USA
| | - Ju Jiang
- Viral and Rickettsial Diseases Department, Naval Medical Research Center, Silver Spring, MD, 20910, USA; Henry Jackson Foundation, Bethesda, MD, 20817, USA
| | - Ratree Takhampunya
- Department of Entomology, United States Army Medical Directorate-Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangkok, 10400, Thailand
| | - Terry A Klein
- Force Health Protection & Preventive Medicine, MEDDAC-K/65(th) Medical Brigade, Unit 15281, APO AP 96271-5281, USA
| | - Heung-Chul Kim
- Force Health Protection & Preventive Medicine, MEDDAC-K/65(th) Medical Brigade, Unit 15281, APO AP 96271-5281, USA
| | - Sung-Tae Chong
- Force Health Protection & Preventive Medicine, MEDDAC-K/65(th) Medical Brigade, Unit 15281, APO AP 96271-5281, USA
| | - Jin-Won Song
- Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, Republic of Korea
| | - Yu-Jin Kim
- Armed Forces Medical Command, Seongnam, 13590, Republic of Korea
| | - Christina M Farris
- Viral and Rickettsial Diseases Department, Naval Medical Research Center, Silver Spring, MD, 20910, USA
| | - Allen L Richards
- Viral and Rickettsial Diseases Department, Naval Medical Research Center, Silver Spring, MD, 20910, USA; Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics Department, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, 20814, USA
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Niu D, Zhao Y, Zhang W. Temperature stress response: A novel important function of Dermatophagoides farinae allergens. Exp Parasitol 2020; 218:108003. [PMID: 32980317 DOI: 10.1016/j.exppara.2020.108003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2020] [Revised: 08/13/2020] [Accepted: 09/18/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Dermatophagoides farinae, an important pathogen, has multiple allergens. However, their expression under physiological conditions are not understood. Our previous RNA-seq showed that allergens of D. farinae were up-regulated under temperature stress, implying that they may be involved in stress response. Here, we performed a comprehensive study. qRT-PCR detection indicated that 26 of the 34 allergens showed differential expression. Der f1 had the most abundant basic expression quantity. Der f 28.0201 (HSP70) and Der f3 had the same regulation pattern in 9 highly expressed transcripts, which only up-regulated at 41 °C and 43 °C, but Der f 28.0201 showed stronger regulation than Der f 3 (19.88-fold vs 6.02-fold). Whereas Der f 1, 2, 7, 21, 22, 27, and 30 were up-regulated under both heat and cold stress, and Der f 27 showed the strongest regulation ability among them. Der f 27 showed more significant up-regulation than Der f 28.0201 under heat stress (23.59-fold vs 19.88-fold), and Der f27 had more obvious up-regulation under cold than heat stress (30.70-fold vs 23.59-fold). The expression of Der f 27, 28.0201 and 1, and D. farinae survival rates significantly decreased following RNAi, indicating the upregulation of these allergens under temperature stress conferred thermo-tolerance or cold-tolerance to D. farinae. In this study, we described for the first time that these allergens have temperature-stress response functions. This new scientific discovery has important clinical value for revealing the more frequent and serious allergic diseases caused by D. farinae during the change of seasons.
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Affiliation(s)
- DongLing Niu
- Department of Pathogen Biology and Immunology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710061, China
| | - YaE Zhao
- Department of Pathogen Biology and Immunology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710061, China.
| | - WanYu Zhang
- Department of Pathogen Biology and Immunology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710061, China
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