A Short-Read Amplicon Sequencing Protocol and Bioinformatic Pipeline for Ecological Surveillance of Dipteran Disease Vectors.

Vector control remains an important strategy worldwide to prevent human infection with pathogens transmitted by arthropods. Vector control strategies rely on accurate identification of vector taxa along with vector-specific biological indicators such as feeding ecology, infection prevalence and insecticide resistance. Multiple 'DNA barcoding' protocols have been published over the past several decades to support these applications, generally relying on informal manual approaches such as BLAST to assign taxonomic identity to the resulting sequences.

Prolonged immune response to tick-borne Ehrlichia chaffeensis infection using a genetically modified live vaccine.

Ehrlichia chaffeensis, a tick transmitted rickettsial bacterium, causes monocytic ehrlichiosis in humans and dogs. Earlier, we demonstrated that dogs immunized with a mutant strain of E. chaffeensis having a functional disruption in the gene encoding the phage head-to-tail connector protein serves as a modified live vaccine (MLAV) capable of inducing immunity against intravenous and tick-transmitted infection challenges within one month of vaccination.

Long-Term Protective Immunity against Infection Induced by a Genetically Modified Live Vaccine.

Human monocytic ehrlichiosis, an emerging tick-borne disease, is caused by . Infections with the pathogen are also common in the canine host. Our previous studies demonstrated that functional disruption within the phage head-to-tail connector protein gene results in bacterial attenuation, creating a modified live attenuated vaccine (MLAV).

Temporal and spatial dynamics of Plasmodium falciparum clonal lineages in Guyana.

Plasmodium parasites, the causal agents of malaria, are eukaryotic organisms that obligately undergo sexual recombination within mosquitoes. In low transmission settings, parasites recombine with themselves, and the clonal lineage is propagated rather than broken up by outcrossing. We investigated whether stochastic/neutral factors drive the persistence and abundance of Plasmodium falciparum clonal lineages in Guyana, a country with relatively low malaria transmission, but the only setting in the Americas in which an important artemisinin resistance mutation (pfk13 C580Y) has been observed.

Temporal and spatial dynamics of clonal lineages in Guyana.

parasites, the causal agents of malaria, are eukaryotic organisms that obligately undergo sexual recombination within mosquitoes. However, in low transmission settings where most mosquitoes become infected with only a single parasite clone, parasites recombine with themselves, and the clonal lineage is propagated rather than broken up by outcrossing. We investigated whether stochastic/neutral factors drive the persistence and abundance of clonal lineages in Guyana, a country with relatively low malaria transmission, but the only setting in the Americas in which an important artemisinin resistance mutation ( C580Y) has been observed.

Evaluating EcxR for Its Possible Role in Gene Regulation.

, a tick-transmitted intraphagosomal bacterium, is the causative agent of human monocytic ehrlichiosis. The pathogen also infects several other vertebrate hosts. has a biphasic developmental cycle during its growth in vertebrate monocytes/macrophages and invertebrate tick cells.