The anal pore route is efficient to infect spp. ticks with and allows the assessment of the role played by infection control targets.

Adult and ticks are partially refractory to when fed on infected hosts, hindering the functional characterization of potentially protective targets in the bacterial acquisition. In the current study, we used the anal pore route to infect adult and ticks with and to assess the effects of the knockdown of microplusin in infection control. The anal pore route was efficient to infect both species, resulting in a prevalence of around 100% of infected ticks.

The survival of Amblyomma sculptum ticks upon blood-feeding depends on the expression of an inhibitor of apoptosis protein.

Background: The tick Amblyomma sculptum is the major vector of Rickettsia rickettsii, the causative agent of the highly lethal Brazilian spotted fever. It has been shown that R. rickettsii inhibits apoptosis in both human endothelial cells and tick cells.