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).
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Daily Overview |
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CP10.2: Wildlife 2: Mammals, Birds, Lizards & Wetas 5 min talks Location: Lecture Theatre 3 Session Chair: Haylee Crawford-Weaver, DCCEEW Session Chair: Nicholas Fountain-Jones, University of Tasmania | |
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Omics investigation of bandicoot immunity to the eastern paralysis tick, Ixodes holocyclus. 1: School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences (SCMB), The University of Queensland, Australia.; 2: Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), The University of Queensland, Australia. The eastern paralysis tick, Ixodes holocyclus, causes potentially fatal toxin-mediated paralysis in susceptible domestic animals, livestock, and humans, often requiring urgent medical or veterinary intervention. Yet bandicoots are major natural hosts and appear comparatively tolerant of tick infestation. The mechanism underlying this host difference remains unresolved. This project investigates whether adaptive humoral immunity may contribute to bandicoot protection against the eastern paralysis tick. We are using a comparative omics approach to identify and annotate immunoglobulin-related sequences in Queensland bandicoots, focusing on Isoodon macrourus and Perameles nasuta, with Perameles gunnii included as a closely related reference species. Publicly available bandicoot expressed sequence tags, and the available P. nasuta transcriptome are being analyzed alongside collaborator-supplied P. gunnii genomic data and marsupial immunoglobulin datasets using homology-based annotation. Blood-derived samples from tick-infested I. macrourus and P. nasuta have also been submitted for whole-genome sequencing by Pacific Biosciences high-fidelity long-read sequencing and Hi-C scaffolding to improve recovery of immune loci, including antibody regions. Peripheral blood RNA sequencing will further support identification of expressed immunoglobulin transcripts. Annotated candidate sequences will guide degenerate primer design for future amplification of bandicoot antibody regions and test whether humoral immune responses contribute to natural tolerance of I. holocyclus. | |