Rhipicephalus microplushemocyte innate cellular and humoral immune responses to babesialinfection

To understand the effect of Babesia infection on Rhipicephalus microplus hemocyte gene expression, we performed high throughput RNA-sequencing using samples collected from Rhipicephalus microplus uninfected tick hemolymph and infected with either Babesia bigemina or Babesia bovis. We evaluated gene expression differences that may be attributed to tick immune defense to babesial infection. Overall design: Parasite mRNA isolated from 3 biological replicates for each of 1) uninfected tick hemolymph, 2) Babesia bigemina kinete stage parasites from infected tick hemolymph, and 3) Babesia bovis kinete stage parasites from infected tick hemolymph, were compared by RNAseq methodology using Illumina technology.