Figure 3

Level of Bm86 transcript in partially engorged R. microplus females injected with Bm86 dsRNA (grey bar) or buffer control (black bar). At day 5 after injection, 6 biological replicates of partially engorged female ticks fed on cattle during acute B. bovis infection were dissected and gene expression was evaluated in individual guts and ovaries by reverse transcriptase quantitative real-time PCR. The presented data is representative of ticks from experiment one however, similar levels of gene silenced were obtained in ticks from experiment two. The transcription level of Bm86 was calculate as relative quantity using the delta Ct comparative method normalized by the total amount of RNA used to generate the cDNA. Bm86 expression was reduced 92.9% (± 9.3%) and 93.8% (± 2.8%) in gut and ovaries, respectively. Different letters (a, b) above the bars indicate significant statistical differences (t test, P < 0.05).