ABSTRACT: Biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) as putative vectors of zoonotic Onchocerca lupi (Nematoda: Onchocercidae) in Northern Arizona and New Mexico, southwestern United States
Project description:Onchocerca lupi is a filarial worm parasitizing domestic carnivores and humans. Adult nematodes usually localize beneath in the sclera or in the ocular retrobulbar of infected animals, whilst microfilariae are found in the skin. Therefore, diagnosis of O. lupi is achieved by microscopic and/or molecular detection of microfilariae from skin biopsy and/or surgical removal of adults from ocular tissues of infected hosts. An urgent non-invasive diagnostic tool for the diagnosis of O. lupi in dog is mandatory. In this study, an immunoproteomic analyses was performed using a combination of immunoblotting with O. lupi reactive sera and mass spectrometry. Onchocerca lupi major antigen protein (Ol-MJA) and paramyosin (Ol-PARA) were identified as potential biomarkers for serodiagnosis. Linear epitopes were scanned using high-density peptide microarray. Sera collected from dogs infected with O. lupi and healthy controls led to the identification of 11 immunodominant antigenic peptides (n = 7 for Ol-MJA; n = 4 for Ol-PARA). These peptides were validated using sera of dogs uniquely infected with the most important filarioids infesting dogs either zoonotic (Dirofilaria repens, Dirofilaria immitis) or not (Achontochelonema reconditum and Cercopithifilaria bainae). Six antigenic peptides, three for Ol-MJA and for Ol-PARA, respectively, were selected as potential candidate biomarkers for the serological detection of canine O. lupi infection. The molecular and proteomic dataset herein reported should provide a useful resource for studies on O. lupi toward supporting the development of new interventions (drugs, vaccines and diagnostics) against canine onchocercosis.
Project description:LupiQuant: A Real-Time PCR based assay for determining host-to-parasite DNA ratios of Onchocerca lupi and host Canis lupus from onchocercosis samples.
Project description:We report the presence of Onchocerca ochengi and O. volvulus derived small RNAs in bovine nodule fluids and human serum and plasma, respectively. Further comparisons with other related filarial nematodes like Litomosoides sigmodontis and Dirofilaria immitis reveal common and distictive signatures associated to the Onchocerca species.
Project description:This data is part of a pre-publication release. For information on the proper use of pre-publication data shared by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (including details of any publication moratoria), please see http://www.sanger.ac.uk/datasharing/ Onchocerca volvulus is a filarial nematode parasite of humans, causing Onchocerciasis, or River Blindness, which affects over 37 million people, mainly in Africa. It is a severely debilitating disease, which is transmitted to humans by black fly. This project aims to undertake high-throughput sequencing of Onchocerca volvulus transcriptome for de novo assembly of transcripts. The main objective of this project is to recognize genes expressed in given life stages.
