Ana P. Peconick

Polymorphism of the bm86 gene in South American strains of the cattle tick Boophilus microplus.

Thirty Boophilus microplus strains from various geographic regions of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela and Colombia were analyzed for the bm86 and bm95 gene. A fragment of cDNA of 794 base pairs of the parasite larvae, included between nucleotides 278–1071s, was amplified and cloned on the pGEM-T vector. Two random clones were sequenced for each population and the nucleotides 278–1071 and predicted amino acid sequences compared with the bm86 and bm95 genes. Variations from 1.76 to 3.65% were detected in the nucleotides sequence when compared with the homologous sequence of the bm86 gene and a 3.4–6.08% in the homologous amino acid sequence of the Bm86 protein. When the sequences obtained were compared with the bm95 gene, variations from 0.50 to 3.15% were detected. Variations from 1.14 to 4.56% were detected for the Bm95 protein homologous sequences in the deduced amino acid sequence. Only five of the 30 strains analyzed presented two different types of alleles expressed and the two alleles of the Alegre population and allele 1 of the Betim population were the most divergent of all those analyzed.

Synthetic vaccine (SBm7462) against the cattle tick Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus: Preservation of immunogenic determinants in different strains from South America

The synthetic vaccine SBm7462 is based on three immunogenic epitopes (4822, 4823 and 4824) contained within protein Bm86 derived from the Australian Yeerongpilly strain of the tick Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus. Twenty strains of the tick originating from Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Uruguay were analysed in order to identify differences compared with sequences present in components of vaccine SBm7462. For each parasite population, three cDNA fragments containing the nucleotides coding for the epitopes 4822, 4824 and 4823 were sequenced, and the amino acid sequences were deduced and compared with those of the homologous bm86 gene. The results indicate that the epitope sequences of vaccine SBm7462 are conserved in the South American populations of the tick. The conservation of such sequences is very important for the immunological response of different populations of R. (B.) microplus.

Importância das vacinas sintéticas contra o carrapato Rhipicephalus microplus

Rhipicephalus microplus, do ponto de vista economico, e o parasita mais importante dos rebanhos bovinos nas Americas Central e Sul e na Australia, pois acarreta severos prejuizos diretos e indiretos na producao animal. O controle deste parasita repousa principalmente na utilizacao de drogas carrapaticidas que sao responsaveis pela selecao de populacoes resistentes, alem de causar a contaminacao com residuos na carne, leite e derivados e no meio ambiente. Isso gera uma necessidade de se desenvolver metodos alternativos, seguros e eficientes de controle, os quais possam atuar de modo integrado. Os avancos das tecnicas de biologia molecular impulsionaram varias linhas de pesquisa na area de parasitologia veterinaria, principalmente no desenvolvimento de vacinas. Vacinas derivadas da glicoproteina intestinal do R. microplus, a Bm86, possuem um amplo potencial como metodo nao quimico no controle dos carrapatos. O peptideo sintetico SBm7462®, uma vacina sintetica derivada da Bm86, a qual tem demonstrado sua eficacia na inducao da resposta imune dos animais com ela imunizados.

Babesia bovis: expression of adhesion molecules in bovine umbilical endothelial cells stimulated with plasma from infected cattle

ABSTRACT.- Vargas M.I., Patarroyo J.H., Hernandez M., Peconick A.P., Patarroyo A.M., Ta-fur G.A., Araujo L.S. & Valente F. 2014. Babesia bovis : expression of adhesion molecules in bovine umbilical endothelial cells stimulated with plasma from infected cattle. Pesquisa Veterinaria Brasileira 34(10):937-941. Laboratorio de Biologia e Controle de He-matozoarios e Vetores, Departamento de Veterinaria, Instituto de Biotecnologia Aplicada a Agropecuaria, Universidade Federal de Vicosa, Campus Universitario, Vicosa, MG 36570-900, Brazil. E- mail: jpatarro@ufv.brTen male, 12-month-old Jersey with intact spleens, serologically and parasitologically free from Babesia were housed individually in an arthropod-free isolation system from bir -th and throughout entire experiment. The animals were randomly divided into two groups. Five animals (group A) were intravenously inoculated with 6.6 X10 7 red blood cells para-sitized with pathogenic sample of Babesia bovis (passage 7 BboUFV-1), for the subsequent “ex vivo” determination of the expression of adhesion molecules. Five non-inoculated ani-mals (group B) were used as the negative control. The expression of the adhesion mole-cules ICAM-1, VCAM, PECAM-1 E-selectin and thrombospondin (TSP) was measured in bovine umbilical vein endothelial cells (BUVECs). The endothelial cells stimulated with a pool of plasma from animals infected with the BboUFV-1 7