Ticks are obligate parasites in a large variety of hosts and are considered to be, after mosquitoes, the second worldwide vector of human and animal diseases. Bovine babesiosis causes substantial economic losses due to animal mortality, abortions and anaemia, among other effects. Calreticulin protein has been identified in several species including ticks and previous experiments showed that calreticulin gene was up-regulated in R. annulatus ticks infected with B. bigemina and that its knockdown by RNAi technique leads to a reduction of both pathogen transmission and ticks weight. The aim of...