Recent Publications

Decoding arthropod vector immunology through bona fide pathogens. Wu-Chuang A, Laukaitis-Yousey H, Butnaru M, Mohr SE, Perrimon N, Pedra JHF. Trends in Parasitology. 2025 Mar 25. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pt.2025.03.004.

 

Tick extracellular vesicles undermine epidermal wound healing during hematophagy. Marnin L, Valencia L, Bogale H, Laukaitis-Yousey H, Rolandelli A, O'Neal A, Rodrigues Ferraz C, O'Neal AJ, Schmitter-Sanchez A, Bencosme Cuevas E, Nguyen TT, Leal-Galvan B, Rickert D, Mendes MT, Samaddar S, Butler LR, Singh N, Cabrera Paz F, Oliver J, Jameson J, Munderloh U, Chavez AO, Mulenga A, Park S, Serre D, Pedra JHF. BioRxiv. 2024 Sept 18 11.10.566612. doi: 10.1101/2023.11.10.566612.

 

Bacterial reprogramming of tick metabolism impacts vector fitness and susceptibility to infection. Samaddar S, Rolandelli A, O'Neal AJ, Laukaitis-Yousey HJ, Marnin L, Singh N, Wang X, Butler LR, Rangghran P, Kitsou C, Cabrera Paz FE, Valencia L, R Ferraz C, Munderloh UG, Khoo B, Cull B, Rosche KL, Shaw DK, Oliver J, Narasimhan S, Fikrig E, Pal U, Fiskum GM, Polster BM, Pedra JHF. Nat Microbiol. 2024 Sep;9(9):2278-2291. doi: 10.1038/s41564-024-01756-0.

 

An atlas of human vector-borne microbe interactions reveals pathogenicity mechanisms. Hart TM, Sonnert ND, Tang X, Chaurasia R, Allen PE, Hunt JR, Read CB, Johnson EE, Arora G, Dai Y, Cui Y, Chuang, Y-M, Yu Q, Rahman MS, Mendes MT, Rolandelli A, Singh P, Tripathi AK, Ben Mamoun C, Caimano MJ, Radolf JD, Lin Y-P, Roy CR, Lin Y. Fingerle V, Margos G, Pal U, Johnson RM, Pedra JHF, Azad AF, Salje J, Dimopoulos G, Vinetz JM, Carlyon JA, Palm NW, Fikrig E, Ring AM. Cell. 2024 Jul 25;187(15):4113-4127.e13 doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.05.023.

 

Tick hemocytes have a pleiotropic role in microbial infection and arthropod fitness. Rolandelli A, Laukaitis-Yousey HJ, Bogale HN, Singh N, Samaddar S, O'Neal AJ, Ferraz CR, Butnaru M, Mameli E, Xia B, Mendes MT, Butler LR, Marnin L, Cabrera Paz FE, Valencia LM, Rana VS, Skerry C, Pal U, Mohr SE, Perrimon N, Serre D, Pedra JHF. Nat Commun. 2024 Mar 8;15(1):2117. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-46494-3.

 

Genetic manipulation of an Ixodes scapularis cell line. Singh N, Rolandelli A, O’Neal AJ, Butler LR, Samaddar S, Laukaitis-Yousey HJ, Butnaru M, Mohr SE, Perrimon N, Pedra JHF. mBio. 2024 Feb 21: 0:e02479-23. doi:
10.1128/mbio.02479-23.

 

A ticking time bomb hidden in plain sight. Narasimhan S, Fish D, Pedra JHF, Pal U, Fikrig E. Sci Transl Med. 2023 Oct 18;15(718):eadi7829. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adi7829.

 

Cholesterol contributes to risk, severity, and machine learning-driven diagnosis of Lyme disease. Forrest IS, O'Neal AJ, Pedra JHF, Do R. Clin Infect Dis. 2023 May 25;ciad307. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciad307.

 

Croquemort elicits activation of the immune deficiency pathway in ticks. O'Neal AJ, Singh N, Rolandelli A, Laukaitis HJ, Wang X, Shaw DK, Young BD, Narasimhan S, Dutta S, Snyder GA, Samaddar S, Marnin L, Butler LR, Mendes MT, Cabrera Paz FE, Valencia LM, Sundberg EJ, Fikrig E, Pal U, Weber DJ, Pedra JHF. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2023 May 16;120(20):e2208673120. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2208673120.

 

Dome1-JAK-STAT signaling between parasite and host integrates vector immunity and development. Rana VS, Kitsou C, Dutta S, Ronzetti MH, Zhang M, Bernard Q, Smith AA, Tomás-Cortázar J, Yang X, Wu MJ, Kepple O, Li W, Dwyer JE, Matias J, Baljinnyam B, Oliver JD, Rajeevan N, Pedra JHF, Narasimhan S, Wang Y, Munderloh U, Fikrig E, Simeonov A, Anguita J, Pal U. Science. 2023 Jan 13;379(6628):eabl3837. doi: 10.1126/science.abl3837.

 

Tick extracellular vesicles enable arthropod feeding and promote distinct outcomes of bacterial infection. Oliva Chávez AS, Wang X, Marnin L, Archer NK, Hammond HL, Carroll EEM, Shaw DK, Tully BG, Buskirk AD, Ford SL, Butler LR, Shahi P, Morozova K, Clement CC, Lawres L, Neal AJO, Mamoun CB, Mason KL, Hobbs BE, Scoles GA, Barry EM, Sonenshine DE, Pal U, Valenzuela JG, Sztein MB, Pasetti MF, Levin ML, Kotsyfakis M, Jay SM, Huntley JF, Miller LS, Santambrogio L, Pedra JHF. Nature Communications. 2021 Jun 17;12(1):3696. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-23900-8. PMID: 34140472

 

Ticks resist skin commensals with immune factor of bacterial origin. Hayes BM, Radkov AD, Yarza F, Flores S, Kim J, Zhao Z, Lexa KW, Marnin L, Biboy J, Bowcut V, Vollmer W, Pedra JHF, Chou S. Cell. 2020 Dec 10;183(6):1562-1571.e12. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.10.042. PMID: 33306955

 

Lipid hijacking: a unifying theme in vector-borne diseases. O'Neal AJ, Butler LR, Rolandelli A, Gilk SD, Pedra JHF. Elife. 2020 Oct 29;9:e61675. doi: 10.7554/eLife.61675. PMID:33118933

 

Immunometabolism in arthropod vectors: redefining interspecies relationships. Samaddar S, Marnin L, Butler LR, Pedra JHF. Trends Parasitol. 2020 Aug 18:S1471-4922(20)30193-8. doi: 10.1016/j.pt.2020.07.010. PMID:32819827

 

Interactions between Borrelia burgdorferi and ticks. Kurokawa C, Lynn GE, Pedra JHF, Pal U, Narasimhan S, Fikrig E. Nature Reviews Microbiology. 2020 Jul 10:1-14. doi: 10.1038/s41579-020-0400-5. PMID:32651470

 

p47 licenses activation of the immune deficiency pathway in the tick Ixodes scapularis. McClure Carroll EE, Wang X, Shaw DK, O'Neal AJ, Oliva Chávez AS, Brown LJ, Boradia VM, Hammond HL, Pedra JHF. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 Jan 2;116(1):205-210. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1808905116. PMID:30559180

 

Vector immunity and evolutionary ecology: the harmonious dissonance. Shaw DK, Tate AT, Schneider DS, Levashina EA, Kagan JC, Pal U, Fikrig E, Pedra JHF. Trends Immunol. 2018 Nov;39(11):862-873. doi: 10.1016/j.it.2018.09.003. PMID:30301592.

 

Engineering of obligate intracellular bacteria: progress, challenges and paradigms. McClure EE, Chávez ASO, Shaw DK, Carlyon JA, Ganta RR, Noh SM, Wood DO, Bavoil PM, Brayton KA, Martinez JJ, McBride JW, Valdivia RH, Munderloh UG, Pedra JHF. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 2017 Jun 19. doi: 10.1038/nrmicro.2017.59. PMID:28626230.

 

Infection-derived lipids elicit an immune deficiency circuit in arthropods. Shaw DK, Wang X, Brown LJ, Chávez AS, Reif KE, Smith AA, Scott AJ, McClure EE, Boradia VM, Hammond HL, Sundberg EJ, Snyder GA, Liu L, DePonte K, Villar M, Ueti MW, de la Fuente J, Ernst RK, Pal U, Fikrig E, Pedra JH. Nature Communications 2017;8:14401. doi: 10.1038/ncomms14401. PMID:28195158.