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Abstract Background Ticks represent a major health issue for humans and domesticated animals. Exploring the expression landscape of the tick’s central nervous system (CNS), known as the synganglion, would be an important step in understanding tick physiology and in managing tick-borne diseases, but studies on that topic are still relatively scarce. Neuron-specific genes like the cys-loop ligand-gated ion channels (cys-loop LGICs, or cysLGICs) are important pharmacological targets of acaricides. To date their sequence have not been well catalogued for ticks, and their phylogeny has not been fully studied. Results We carried out the sequencing of transcriptomes of the I. ricinus synganglion, for adult ticks in different conditions (unfed males, unfed females, and partially-fed females). The de novo assembly of these transcriptomes allowed us to obtain a large collection of cys-loop LGICs sequences. A reference meta-transcriptome based on synganglion and whole body transcriptomes was then produced, showing high completeness and allowing differential expression analyses between synganglion and whole body. Many of the genes upregulated in the synganglion were associated with neurotransmission and/or localized in neurons or the synaptic membrane. As the first step of a functional study of cysLGICs, we cloned the predicted sequence of the resistance to dieldrin (RDL) subunit homolog, and functionally reconstituted the first GABA-gated receptor of Ixodes ricinus. A phylogenetic study was performed for the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) and other cys-loop LGICs respectively, revealing tick-specific expansions of some types of receptors (especially for Histamine-like subunits and GluCls). Conclusions We established a large catalogue of genes preferentially expressed in the tick CNS, including the cysLGICs. We discovered tick-specific gene family expansion of some types of cysLGIC receptors, and a case of intragenic duplication, suggesting a complex pattern of gene expression among different copies or different alternative transcripts of tick neuro-receptors.