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Infection and Immunity, September 2008, p. 4066-4070, Vol. 76, No. 9
0019-9567/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.00594-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Tick-Borne Transmission of Two Genetically Distinct Anaplasma marginale Strains following Superinfection of the Mammalian Reservoir Host{triangledown}

Christina K. Leverich,1,2 Guy H. Palmer,1 Donald P. Knowles Jr.,3 and Kelly A. Brayton1*

Program in Vector-borne Diseases, Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology and School for Global Animal Health, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164,1 School of Molecular Biosciences, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164,2 Animal Diseases Research Unit, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Pullman, Washington 991643

Received 14 May 2008/ Returned for modification 16 June 2008/ Accepted 18 June 2008

Strain superinfection affects the dynamics of epidemiological spread of pathogens through a host population. Superinfection has recently been shown to occur for two genetically distinct strains of the tick-borne pathogen Anaplasma marginale that encode distinctly different surface protein variants. Superinfected animals could serve as a reservoir for onward transmission of both strains if the tick vector is capable of acquiring and transmitting both strains. Whether competition among strains during development within the tick vector, which requires sequential invasion and replication events, limits colonization and subsequent transmission to a single strain is unknown. We tested this possibility by acquisition feeding Dermacentor andersoni ticks on a reservoir host superinfected with the genetically distinct St. Maries and EM{Phi} strains. Although the St. Maries strain consistently maintained higher bacteremia levels in the mammalian host and the EM{Phi} strain had an early advantage in colonization of the tick salivary glands, individual ticks were coinfected, and there was successful transmission of both strains. These results indicate that a genetically distinct A. marginale strain capable of superinfecting the mammalian host can subsequently be cotransmitted and become established within the host population despite the presence of an existing established strain.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-7040. Phone: (509) 335-6340. Fax: (509) 335-8529. E-mail: kbrayton{at}vetmed.wsu.edu

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 23 June 2008.

Editor: R. P. Morrison

Infection and Immunity, September 2008, p. 4066-4070, Vol. 76, No. 9
0019-9567/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.00594-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Galletti, M. F. B. M., Ueti, M. W., Knowles, D. P. Jr., Brayton, K. A., Palmer, G. H. (2009). Independence of Anaplasma marginale Strains with High and Low Transmission Efficiencies in the Tick Vector following Simultaneous Acquisition by Feeding on a Superinfected Mammalian Reservoir Host. Infect. Immun. 77: 1459-1464 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Ueti, M. W., Knowles, D. P., Davitt, C. M., Scoles, G. A., Baszler, T. V., Palmer, G. H. (2009). Quantitative Differences in Salivary Pathogen Load during Tick Transmission Underlie Strain-Specific Variation in Transmission Efficiency of Anaplasma marginale. Infect. Immun. 77: 70-75 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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