Gene silencing by RNA interference in the house dust mite

Gene silencing by RNA interference in the house dust mite, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus

Marr EJ, Sargison ND, Nisbet AJ, Burgess ST. Gene silencing by RNA interference in the house dust mite, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus. Mol Cell Probes. 2015 Jul 26. pii: S0890-8508(15)30026-8.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890850815300268

House dust mites are medically important as they release allergens in the household and continual contact with these allergens can lead to allergic diseases including asthma and atopic dermatitis. House dust mites are found globally and thrive in man-made environments such as carpets and bedding where they primarily feed on dead skin cells shed by humans.

Gene silencing by RNA interference in house dust mites will allow us to address important questions about the basics of house dust mite biology and it can do this through the ability to effectively switch off genes in the house dust mite. Using RNAi to switch off mite genes will allow us to determine their function and their importance to the mite. Ultimately we hope to identify genes that are crucial for mite survival and in doing so identify potential targets for new drugs.

One of the potential problems with house dust mites is their ability to develop resistance to the drugs that are used routinely to control them in homes and that is one reason why this technique might be of significant interest. It should also be mentioned that these drugs are often used to control other pests and this increases the chances of those pests becoming resistant too.

One final benefit of this technique derives from the fact that house dust mites and other mites such as scabies mites and sheep scab mites are relatively closely related and actually share a number of key similarities, including many of the problems faced in trying to control these mites. Both scabies and sheep scab mites are very difficult to reliably obtain in the laboratory and are responsible for highly important diseases in both humans and farm animals alike. However, house dust mites are very easy to culture in the lab environment and the discoveries we will make using gene silencing in these easily obtainable mites are likely to be of great interest in these other medically and economically important mite species.