UCI - San Joaquin Marsh Reserve

20 Feb, 01 AM - 20 Feb, 04 AM

We have identified in the northeastern U.S. and Sweden new species of Borrelia, a vector-borne spirochete bacterium, in ticks, which had not previously been known to transmit these organisms. These new Borrelia spp. are generally non-cultivable, so we depend on using the polymerase chain reaction to identify and characterize them. We suspect that ticks near to the Pacific coast also harbor these bacteria. The ticks most likely to be vectors are Ixodes spp., which are prostriate ticks, and Dermacentor spp., which are metastriate ticks. We know from discussions with the Orange County Vector Control District that both types of ticks are represented in the San Joaquin Reserve. We propose to collect 100-200 Ixodes ticks and 100-200 Dermacentor ticks by flagging in the Reserve. The ticks will be brought to the laboratory in 70% ethanol and then DNA will be extracted. The DNA will then be subjected to quantitative multiplex PCR with degenerate primers to identify Borrelia species in the ticks. We estimate that if the Borrelia spp. are present in either type of tick their prevalence will be between 1-6%, thus the need for at least 100 samples. We anticipate being able to collect this number of adult ticks over the course of 2-5 collecting sessions of approximately 2 hours each. The ticks should be collected during the late Winter and early Spring before conditions become too hot and dry.

Visit #2510 @UCI - San Joaquin Marsh Reserve

Approved

Under Project # 2000 | Research

University of California Irvine - Microbiology and Molecular Genetics

faculty - University of California, Irvine

Reservation Members(s)

Alan Barbour Feb 20, 2004 (1 days)
Alan Barbour Feb 20, 2004 (1 days)
Alan Barbour Feb 20, 2004 (1 days)
Alan Barbour Feb 20, 2004 (1 days)

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