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Conference Agenda

Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).

Daily Overview

Session

CP21: Cells, Molecules & Genes 4 - 15 min talks
Location: Lecture Theatre 1
Session Chair: Andrew Walker, The University of Queensland
Session Chair: Natasha Sharma, The University of Melbourne

Presentation 2

Long-read–supported gene modelling illuminates feeding, immune, and developmental biology in the European castor bean tick, Ixodes ricinus.

Amrita Vijay¹, Balu Balan¹, Louise Baker¹, Stefano Gaiarsa², Quentin Gouil³, Pradip Roy¹, Alexander Gofton⁴, Alessandra Cafiso⁵, Ala Tabor⁶, Nathan Lo⁷, Olivier Plantard⁸, Jan Riemer⁹, Fabrizia Stavru¹⁰, Clare A Anstead¹¹, Peter Czabotar¹, Tony Papenfuss¹, Davide Sassera^12,13, Aaron Jex^1,11

1: Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Department of Medical Biology, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; 2: Department of Microbiology & Virology, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia, Italy; 3: Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute, Victoria, Australia; 4: CSIRO, Health and Biosecurity, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; 5: Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences, University of Milan, Lodi, Italy; 6: The University of Queensland, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture & Food Innovation, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia; 7: School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, New South Wales; 8: Oniris, INRAE, BIOEPAR, 44300, Nantes, France; 9: Department for Chemistry, Institute for Biochemistry, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany; 10: Deceased: Fabrizia Stavru; 11: Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Melbourne Veterinary School, Faculty of Science, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; 12: Department of Biology and Biotechnology, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy; 13: Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia, Italy

The European castor bean tick, Ixodes ricinus, is a major blood-feeding ectoparasite and vector of Lyme disease, tick-borne encephalitis and babesiosis. Reducing tick-borne disease requires an improved understanding of tick molecular biology across tissues and feeding stages. We applied long-read, full-length mRNA sequencing to refine gene models in the published I. ricinus genome and to profile salivary glands and ovaries across blood-feeding phases. Curated functional annotation was used to interpret pathways central to ectoparasitism. We defined 30,454 gene models, including 28,515 protein-coding genes. Functional curation provided insight into chemosensation, hematophagy, immune tolerance, reproduction and fecundity. Salivary glands showed feeding-associated metabolic rewiring, vesicle biogenesis, and secretome remodelling, consistent with anti-clotting, vasodilatory, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory functions that counter host defences. Ovarian transcriptomes revealed early reprogramming of cell-fate pathways, cytoskeletal organisation, extracellular matrix dynamics, and immune regulation, consistent with priming for fertilisation and embryogenesis. This transcriptomic blueprint provides a high-resolution annotation resource for the I. ricinus genome and delineates tissue- and stage-specific programmes that underpin feeding and reproduction, providing a platform for mechanistic studies and improved tick control strategies.