Exploring the transcriptome of immature stages of Ornithodoros hermsi, the soft-tick vector of Borrelia hermsii

Applications of transcriptomics have facilitated the identification of a large set of tick molecules that impact tick feeding and play a role in the transmission of tick-borne pathogens. Deep sequencing methodologies have been instrumental in acquiring this new information and, consequently, in facilitating the study of the biology of disease vectors that unfortunately lack reference genomes. Assembling and annotating identified transcripts, describing the transcriptomes and proteomes from various tick species, and depositing novel tick-derived sequences in the NCBI database have contributed to our understanding of tick physiology and tick-feeding biology. Here, we provide a more comprehensive analysis of the whole-body transcriptome of immature stages of Ornithodoros hermsi, the vector of Borrelia hermsii in the U.S.