Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus Transcriptome profiling

Ticks are exclusively obligate haematophagous ectoparasites, affecting eighty per cent of the world's cattle population and are one of the leading causes for production loss in the livestock sector and dairy industry. Rhipicephalus annulatus, a member of the family Ixodidae poses a threat in South India due to its ability to transmit a large variety of tick-borne diseases including anaplasmosis, babesiosis in cattle.Tick infestations cause a great deal of loss in milk productivity and are ranked only second to mosquitoes as vectors of lethal pathogens. Effective control of ticks using acaricides has led to the evolution of resistance to many existing compounds. In our study, the transcriptome approach was applied to identify and quantify the transcripts in R.annulatus. We compared the transcriptome and identified differentially expressed genes in amitraz treated and untreated larvae of Rhipicephalus annulatus. This study provides a signature profile for understanding the possible mechanisms of acaricide resistance.