Characterization of an iron-inducible Haemaphysalis longicornis tick-derived promoter in an Ixodes scapularis-derived tick cell line (ISE6)

BACKGROUND: Ticks are important vectors of disease-causing pathogens. With the rise of resistance to chemical acaricides, alternative methods in tick control are warranted. Gene manipulation has been successful in controlling mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases and is now looked upon as a candidate method to control ticks and tick-borne pathogens. Our previous study has identified the actin and ferritin promoter regions in the Haemaphysalis longicornis tick. RESULTS: Here, the ferritin-derived promoter from the H. longicornis tick was characterized in silico, and the core promoter sequences and some of its important components were identified. Several truncations of the promoter region were created and inserted to a reporter plasmid to determine the important components for its activity. The activities of the truncated promoters on the Ixodes scapularis tick cell line (ISE6) were measured via a dual luciferase assay using experimental and control reporter genes. To induce the promoter’s activity, transfected ISE6 cells were exposed to ferrous sulfate. The 639 nucleotides truncated promoter showed the highest activity on ISE6 cells when exposed to 1 mM ferrous sulfate. CONCLUSION: In this study, we characterized an iron-inducible tick promoter that could be a valuable tool in the development of a gene-manipulation system to control ticks and tick-borne pathogens. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13071-019-3574-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.