ecause to produce Tickgard around 20,000 ticks are needed. This is a difficultdemand to keep up with and so instead of breeding the cattle ticks the traditional way the ticks aregenetically engineered as this is a faster easier method. A specific antigen is needed to be found and isolated from samples which are taken from the gut of a tick. The antigen needed was a protein which triggers the immunity system. To isolate the particular protein it had to be identified from about ten thousand proteins found in the gut. Once the particular gene is isolated from the tick it is put into the bacterium which then produces a synthetic antigen. Lastly, this synthetic antigen is inserted into a stable vaccine....
