A bite so sweet: the glycobiology interface of tick-host-pathogen interactions

Vector-borne diseases constitute 17% of all infectious diseases in the world; among the blood-feeding arthropods, tickstransmit the highest number of pathogens. Understanding the interactions between the tickvector, the mammalian host and the pathogenscirculating between them is the basis for the successful development of vaccines against ticksor the tick-transmitted pathogensas well as for the development of specific treatments against tick-borne infections. A lot of effort has been put into transcriptomic and proteomic analyses; however, the protein-carbohydrate interactionsand the overall glycobiologyof ticksand tick-borne pathogenshas not been given the importance or priority deserved. Novel (bio)analytical techniques and their availability have immensely increased the possibilities in glycobiologyresearch and thus novel information in the glycobiologyof ticksand tick-borne pathogensis being generated at a faster pace each year. This review brings a comprehensive summary of the knowledge on both the glycosylated proteins and the glycan-binding proteins of the ticksas well as the tick-transmitted pathogens, with emphasis on the interactions allowing the infection of both the ticksand the hosts by various bacteria and tick-borne encephalitis virus.