DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Blood meal source as an ecological determinant of bacterial community dynamics in the tick vector AMBLYOMMA AMERICANUM

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A key obstacle to understanding the ecology of tick-borne diseases is the identification of the specific vertebrate animals, or hosts, on which ticks feed. Each host is potentially important because different species contain different combinations of nutrients, immune system molecules, and microbes that can affect pathogen transmission by the ticks. This doctoral dissertation improvement project will adapt existing molecular techniques to amplify trace remains of DNA from previous tick blood meals in order to determine past host use. Gene sequencing methods will then be used to determine the effect of prior hosts on the composition of bacterial communities in host-seeking ticks. This information will help to explain variation in bacterial communities among ticks and to predict the abundance and distribution of infectious ticks in the environment. Assay development and testing will use the lone star tick, the most common tick biting humans and animals in two thirds of the continental USA. It is the known vector of several human and veterinary pathogens and the carrier of many other bacteria whose significance in disease transmission is not well understood.Development of a new approach to blood meal analysis will provide a valuable tool to all researchers who study the ecology of blood-feeding arthropods, such as many medically and economically important tick species. The assay improves efficiency by exploiting recent advances in DNA sequencing technology to establish and increase sample throughput. The project will train undergraduate students in field and laboratory research involving both ecological and molecular methods. Finally, the researchers present their results to the staff and visitors to several Georgia state parks.