Transcriptome analysis of a soft tick Ornithodoros moubata

A blood feeding acari, tick is one of the important pests for human activity, because it sometime becomes a vector of human and animal disease. Ticks depend on blood feeding to obtain nutrition. Molting and egg production of ticks never occur before blood feeding. After blood feeding, ticks show dramatic physiological changes. To understand the regulatory mechanism of tick development, RNA-seq with a soft tick Ornithodoros moubata were performed. Final instar nymphs of O. moubata molt around 10 days after blood feeding, therefore, samples were obtained from nymphs 1 or 9 days after blood feeding to analyze regulatory mechanism required immediately after blood feeding and just before molting.