Download CENTENNIAL HONORS COLLEGE Western Illinois University Undergraduate Research Day 2016

CENTENNIAL HONORS COLLEGE
Western Illinois University
Undergraduate Research Day 2016
PosterPresentation
ArbovirusesPresenceinTicksFoundinWesternIllinois
MadisonLefler
FacultyMentor:CatherineMiller-Hunt
Biology
Thepurposeofthisprojectistodetermineifarbovirusesarepresentintickspeciescommonlyfoundin
western Illinois (in areas within and surrounding Macomb, IL). Ticks carry and can transmit many
important infectious agents, including viruses, bacteria and parasites. Some of these agents can be
deadlyinhumansandanimalsifleftuntreated.Thefirstgoalofourresearchwilltocapturedifferent
speciesofticksfromaroundtheMacombarea.Wewilldothisbyusingatickdragmethod.Thetickdrag
methodusesastripofclothmountedtoapoleandisthendrugthroughterrain.Wewillthenidentify
theadulttickstothespecieslevelvisuallyusingtickidentificationkeys.Wehypothesizethatwewillfind
an abundance of ticks in west-central Illinois, and that some of these ticks will harbor arboviruses.
Arbovirusesareagroupofvirusesthataretransmittedthrougharthropodvectors.Weareinterestedin
determining what specific viruses the individual ticks will be carrying. In order to determine viral
carriage,wewillbeutilizingthefollowingmethods.First,wewillcaptureticksbyutilizingthetickdrag
methodfollowedbyidentificationofthetickstothespecieslevel.Wewillthenuseplacetheticksintoa
freezeruntiltheyfreezeanddie.Wewillutilizeliquidnitrogentofreezethetickscompletelyandthen
wewillpulverizetheticksusingamortarandpestle.Wewilluseacommerciallyavailablekittoobtain
theRNAfromtheticks.RNAwillthenbeconvertedtocDNAwhichwillthenbeusedforPCR.cDNAis
complementaryDNAthatisadoublestrandedDNAsynthesizedfrommRNAtemplate.Wewilllookat
the segments of DNA generated through PCR to determine if we have found any viruses in the tick
sample.WewilluseprimersduringthePCRthatarespecifictothevirusesthatweareinterestedin.This
willallowustodetermineifcertainarbovirusesarepresentinlocaltickspecimens.