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Luo T, Hu E, Gan L, Yang D, Wu J, Gao S, Tuo X, Bayin CG, Hu Z, Guo Q. Candidatus Midichloria mitochondrii can be vertically transmitted in Hyalomma anatolicum. Exp Parasitol 2024:108828. [PMID: 39159853 DOI: 10.1016/j.exppara.2024.108828] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2024] [Revised: 08/15/2024] [Accepted: 08/15/2024] [Indexed: 08/21/2024]
Abstract
In this study, a tick intracellular symbiont, Candidatus Midichloria mitochondrii, was detected in Hyalomma anatolicum from Xinjiang, China. Morphological identification and cytochrome oxidase subunit I sequence alignment were used for molecular identification of the tick species. PCR detection further revealed the presence of endosymbiont C. M. mitochondrii in the tick. Specific primers were designed for Groel and 16S rRNA genes of C. M. mitochondrii for PCR amplification and phylogenetic analysis. To further investigate the vertical transmission characteristics of C. M. mitochondrii, specific primers were designed based on the FabⅠ gene fragment to detect C. M. mitochondrii in different developmental stages and organs of the tick using qPCR. Of the 336 tick specimens collected from the field, 266 samples were identified as H. anatolicum on the basis of morphological characteristics. The gene fragment alignment results of COI confirmed that these ticks were H. anatolicum. The phylogenetic analysis showed that Groel gene of C. M. mitochondrii clustered with Midichloria strains detected in Ixodes ricinus ticks from Italy and Ixodes holocyclus ticks from Australia, with 100% sequence similarity. Furthermore, the 16S rRNA gene of C. M. mitochondrii clusters with the strains isolated from Hyalomma rufipes ticks in Italy, exhibiting the highest degree of homology. qPCR results showed that C. M. mitochondrii was present at all developmental stages of H. anatolicum, with the highest relative abundance in eggs, and lower relative abundance in nymphs and unfed males. With female tick blood feeding, the relative abundance of C. M. mitochondrii increased, and a particularly high relative abundance was detected in the ovaries of engorged female ticks. This study provides information for studying the survival adaptability of H. anatolicum, and provides data for further investigation of the mechanisms regulating tick endosymbionts in ticks, enriching the reference materials for comprehensive prevention and control of tick-borne diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tingxiang Luo
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region 830052, China
| | - Ercha Hu
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region 830052, China; Xingjiang Key Laboratory of Herbivore Drug Research and Creation, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region 830052, China; Veterinary Medicine Postdoctoral Research Station of Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region 830052, China
| | - Lu Gan
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region 830052, China
| | - Depeng Yang
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region 830052, China
| | - Jun Wu
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region 830052, China
| | - Shenghong Gao
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region 830052, China
| | - Xiaoli Tuo
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region 830052, China
| | - Chahan Gailike Bayin
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region 830052, China
| | - Zhengxiang Hu
- College of Grassland Science, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region 830052, China.
| | - Qingyong Guo
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region 830052, China.
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Pham M, Hoffmann HH, Kurtti TJ, Chana R, Garcia-Cruz O, Aliabadi S, Gulia-Nuss M. Validation of heat-inducible Ixodes scapularis HSP70 and tick-specific 3xP3 promoters in ISE6 cells. iScience 2024; 27:110468. [PMID: 39139404 PMCID: PMC11321315 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.110468] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2023] [Revised: 03/18/2024] [Accepted: 07/03/2024] [Indexed: 08/15/2024] Open
Abstract
Ixodes scapularis is an important vector of many pathogens, including the causative agent of Lyme disease. The gene function studies in I. scapularis and other ticks are hampered by the lack of genetic tools, including an inducible promoter for temporal control over transgene-encoding protein or double-stranded RNA. We characterized an intergenic sequence upstream of a heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) gene that can drive Renilla luciferase and mCherry expression in the I. scapularis cell line ISE6 (IsHSP70). In another construct, we replaced the Drosophila melanogaster minimal HSP70 promoter of the 3xP3 promoter with a minimal portion of IsHSP70 promoter and generated an I. scapularis-specific 3xP3 (Is3xP3) promoter. Both IsHSP70 and Is3xP3 have a heat-inducible expression of mCherry fluorescence in ISE6 cells with an approximately 10-fold increase in the percentage of fluorescent cells upon 2 h heat shock. These promoters described will be valuable tools for gene function studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Pham
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
| | - Hans-Heinrich Hoffmann
- Laboratory of Virology and Infectious Diseases, Rockefeller University, New York City, NY, USA
| | | | - Randeep Chana
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
| | - Omar Garcia-Cruz
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
| | - Simindokht Aliabadi
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
| | - Monika Gulia-Nuss
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
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Zhang DD. Tick chemosensation and implications for novel control strategies. CURRENT OPINION IN INSECT SCIENCE 2024; 65:101249. [PMID: 39111543 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2024.101249] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2024] [Revised: 07/30/2024] [Accepted: 07/31/2024] [Indexed: 08/16/2024]
Abstract
Ticks pose a major threat to the health of humans and animals. The use of synthetic acaricides and repellents has raised the concerns of potential health and environmental risks and increasing resistance in ticks. This article highlights the importance of the research on tick chemosensation in developing novel control agents. It provides a review on our current understanding of tick chemosensory system and proposes using chemosensory receptor (CR) genes as molecular targets to discover novel tick control agents. The releases of high-quality tick genomes provide unprecedented opportunities to explore CR gene repertoires. Further functional characterization is necessary to identify the receptors for key chemical cues and signals and unravel whether tick chemosensation involves ionotropic and/or metabotropic mechanisms.
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Duron O. Nutritional symbiosis in ticks: singularities of the genus Ixodes. Trends Parasitol 2024; 40:696-706. [PMID: 38942646 DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2024.06.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2024] [Revised: 06/10/2024] [Accepted: 06/10/2024] [Indexed: 06/30/2024]
Abstract
Symbiosis with intracellular bacteria is essential for the nutrition of ticks, particularly through the biosynthesis of B vitamins. Yet, ticks of the genus Ixodes, which include major vectors of human pathogens, lack the nutritional symbionts usually found in other tick genera. This paradox raises questions about the mechanisms that Ixodes ticks use to prevent nutritional deficiencies. Nonetheless, Ixodes ticks commonly harbor other symbionts belonging to the order Rickettsiales. Although these obligate intracellular bacteria are primarily known as human pathogens, Rickettsiales symbionts often dominate the Ixodes microbial community without causing diseases. They also significantly influence Ixodes physiology, synthesize key B vitamins, and are crucial for immatures. These findings underscore unique associations between Rickettsiales and Ixodes ticks distinct from other tick genera.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olivier Duron
- MIVEGEC, University of Montpellier (UM), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut pour la Recherche et le Développement (IRD), Montpellier, France.
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Fang Y, Wang J, Sun J, Su Z, Chen S, Xiao J, Ni J, Hu Z, He Y, Shen S, Deng F. RNA viromes of Dermacentor nuttalli ticks reveal a novel uukuvirus in Qīnghăi Province, China. Virol Sin 2024; 39:537-545. [PMID: 38679334 DOI: 10.1016/j.virs.2024.04.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2023] [Accepted: 04/23/2024] [Indexed: 05/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Ticks are a major parasite on the Qīnghăi-Tibet Plateau, western China, and represent an economic burden to agriculture and animal husbandry. Despite research on tick-borne pathogens that threaten humans and animals, the viromes of dominant tick species in this area remain unknown. In this study, we collected Dermacentor nuttalli ticks near Qīnghăi Lake and identified 13 viruses belonging to at least six families through metagenomic sequencing. Four viruses were of high abundance in pools, including Xīnjiāng tick-associated virus 1 (XJTAV1), and three novel viruses: Qīnghăi Lake virus 1, Qīnghăi Lake virus 2 (QHLV1, and QHLV2, unclassified), and Qīnghăi Lake virus 3 (QHLV3, genus Uukuvirus of family Phenuiviridae in order Bunyavirales), which lacks the M segment. The minimum infection rates of the four viruses in the tick groups were 8.2%, 49.5%, 6.2%, and 24.7%, respectively, suggesting the prevalence of these viruses in D. nuttalli ticks. A putative M segment of QHLV3 was identified from the next-generation sequencing data and further characterized for its signal peptide cleavage site, N-glycosylation, and transmembrane region. Furthermore, we probed the L, M, and S segments of other viruses from sequencing data of other tick pools by using the putative M segment sequence of QHLV3. By revealing the viromes of D. nuttalli ticks, this study enhances our understanding of tick-borne viral communities in highland regions. The putative M segment identified in a novel uukuvirus suggests that previously identified uukuviruses without M segments should have had the same genome organization as typical bunyaviruses. These findings will facilitate virus discovery and our understanding of the phylogeny of tick-borne uukuviruses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yaohui Fang
- Key Laboratory of Special Pathogens and Biosafety and National Virus Resource Center, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101408, China
| | - Jun Wang
- Key Laboratory of Special Pathogens and Biosafety and National Virus Resource Center, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
| | - Jianqing Sun
- Qīnghăi Lake National Nature Reserve Administration, Xining 810000, China
| | - Zhengyuan Su
- Key Laboratory of Special Pathogens and Biosafety and National Virus Resource Center, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
| | - Shengyao Chen
- Key Laboratory of Special Pathogens and Biosafety and National Virus Resource Center, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101408, China
| | - Jian Xiao
- Key Laboratory of Special Pathogens and Biosafety and National Virus Resource Center, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101408, China
| | - Jun Ni
- Key Laboratory of Special Pathogens and Biosafety and National Virus Resource Center, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101408, China
| | - Zhihong Hu
- Key Laboratory of Special Pathogens and Biosafety and National Virus Resource Center, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
| | - Yubang He
- Qīnghăi Lake National Nature Reserve Administration, Xining 810000, China
| | - Shu Shen
- Key Laboratory of Special Pathogens and Biosafety and National Virus Resource Center, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; Hubei Jiangxia Laboratory, Wuhan 430200, China; Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Vector-borne Infectious Diseases, Urumqi, 830002, China.
| | - Fei Deng
- Key Laboratory of Special Pathogens and Biosafety and National Virus Resource Center, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China.
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Cibichakravarthy B, Shaked N, Kapri E, Gottlieb Y. Endosymbiont-derived metabolites are essential for tick host reproductive fitness. mSphere 2024; 9:e0069323. [PMID: 38953331 PMCID: PMC11288044 DOI: 10.1128/msphere.00693-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2024] [Accepted: 06/10/2024] [Indexed: 07/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Ticks, like other obligatory blood-feeding arthropods, rely on endosymbiotic bacteria to supplement their diet with B vitamins lacking in blood. It has been suggested that additional metabolites such as L-proline may be involved in this nutritional symbiosis, but this has yet to be tested. Here, we studied the metabolite-based interaction between the brown dog tick Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Acari: Ixodidae) and its Coxiella-like endosymbionts (CLE). We measured amino acid titers and tested the effect of B vitamins and L-proline supplementation on the fitness of CLE-suppressed female ticks, displaying low titers of CLE. We found higher titers of L-proline in the symbiont-hosting organs of unfed ticks and in engorged blood-fed whole ticks. Supplementation of B vitamins increased the hatching rate of CLE-suppressed ticks; this effect appears to be stronger when L-proline is added. Our results indicate that L-proline is produced by CLE, and we suggest that CLE is essential in states of high metabolic demand that affects tick reproductive fitness, such as oogenesis and embryonic development. These findings demonstrate the broader effect of nutritional symbionts on their hosts and may potentially contribute to the control of ticks and tick-borne diseases. IMPORTANCE Coxiella-like endosymbionts (CLE) are essential to the brown dog tick Rhipicephalus sanguineus for feeding and reproduction. This symbiosis is based on the supplementation of B vitamins lacking in the blood diet. The involvement of additional metabolites has been suggested, but no experimental evidence is available as yet to confirm a metabolic interaction. Here, we show that B vitamins and L-proline, both of which contribute to tick reproductive fitness, are produced by CLE. These findings demonstrate the importance of symbiont-derived metabolites for the host's persistence and shed light on the complex bacteria-host metabolic interaction, which can be channeled to manipulate and control tick populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Balasubramanian Cibichakravarthy
- The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Neta Shaked
- The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Einat Kapri
- The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Yuval Gottlieb
- The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel
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Esmaeili D, Salas KR, Luker HA, Mitra S, Galvan CJ, Holguin FO, Whyms S, Hansen IA, Costa AG. Rancid rumors or Native wisdom: Evaluating the efficacy of animal fats as insect repellents attributed to historic-period Native Americans. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0301677. [PMID: 39018308 PMCID: PMC11253976 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0301677] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2023] [Accepted: 03/19/2024] [Indexed: 07/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Little is known about Native American adaptations to blood-sucking arthropods prior to and following European contact. Multiple accounts starting in the 16th century suggest that rancid animal grease was employed by Gulf Coast indigenes as a mosquito repellent. Although many Native American ethnobotanical remedies for biting insects have been recorded, the use of animal products for this purpose is not well documented. Moreover, few traditional Native American mosquito repellents have been examined using controlled laboratory methods for repellency testing. In this study, we tested the repellent efficacy of fats derived from alligator, bear, cod, and shark that were aged to various stages of rancidity. Using yellow fever mosquitoes, (Aedes aegypti), we performed an arm-in-cage assay to measure the complete protection times resulted from these fats, when applied to human skin. We used a Y-tube olfactometer assay to evaluate long-distance repellency and tested tick-repellency in a crawling assay. Our results suggest that rancid animal fats from cod, bear, and alligator are potent albeit short-lived mosquito repellents. We found that both rancid and fresh fats do not repel ticks. Our findings show the validity of traditional ethnozoological knowledge of Native American people and support aspects of the ethnohistorical record.
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Affiliation(s)
- Delaram Esmaeili
- Department of Biology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, United States of America
| | - Keyla R. Salas
- Department of Biology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, United States of America
| | - Hailey A. Luker
- Department of Biology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, United States of America
| | - Soumi Mitra
- Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States of America
| | - Claudia J. Galvan
- Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, United States of America
| | - F. Omar Holguin
- Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, United States of America
| | - Sophie Whyms
- School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Immo A. Hansen
- Department of Biology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, United States of America
| | - August G. Costa
- Department of Anthropology, Rice University, Houston, TX, United States of America
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Yuan C, Xu Q, Ning Y, Xia Q. Potential mechanisms implied in tick infection by arboviruses and their transmission to vertebrate hosts. Integr Zool 2024. [PMID: 39016029 DOI: 10.1111/1749-4877.12875] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/18/2024]
Abstract
Ticks can transmit many pathogens, including arboviruses, to their vertebrate hosts. Arboviruses must overcome or evade defense mechanisms during their passage from the tick gut to the hemolymph, salivary glands, and the feeding site in the host skin. This review summarizes current knowledge of defense mechanisms in specific tick tissues and at the feeding site in the host skin. We discuss the possible roles of these defense mechanisms in viral infection and transmission. The responses of tick salivary proteins to arbovirus infection are also discussed. This review provides information that may help accelerate research on virus-tick interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chuanfei Yuan
- NHC Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Control, School of Tropical Medicine, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China
- State Key Laboratory of Virology and National Virus Resource Center, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Center for Biosafety Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China
| | - Qiong Xu
- NHC Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Control, School of Tropical Medicine, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China
| | - Yunjia Ning
- State Key Laboratory of Virology and National Virus Resource Center, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Center for Biosafety Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China
- Hubei Jiangxia Laboratory, Wuhan, China
| | - Qianfeng Xia
- NHC Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Control, School of Tropical Medicine, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China
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Taraveau F, Bru D, Quembo CJ, Jourdan-Pineau H. Development of microsatellite markers for the soft tick Ornithodoros phacochoerus. Parasit Vectors 2024; 17:301. [PMID: 38992704 PMCID: PMC11238500 DOI: 10.1186/s13071-024-06382-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2024] [Accepted: 06/28/2024] [Indexed: 07/13/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Soft ticks of the genus Ornithodoros are responsible for the maintenance and transmission of the African swine fever (ASF) virus in the sylvatic and domestic viral cycles in Southern Africa. They are also the main vectors of the Borrelia species causing relapsing fevers. Currently, no genetic markers are available for Afrotropical Ornithodoros ticks. As ASF spreads globally, such markers are needed to assess the role of ticks in the emergence of new outbreaks. The aim of this study is to design microsatellite markers that could be used for ticks of the Ornithodoros moubata complex, particularly Ornithodoros phacochoerus, to assess population structure and tick movements in ASF endemic areas. METHODS A total of 151 markers were designed using the O. moubata and O. porcinus genomes after elimination of repeated sequences in the genomes. All designed markers were tested on O. phacochoerus and O. porcinus DNA to select the best markers. RESULTS A total of 24 microsatellite markers were genotyped on two populations of O. phacochoerus and on individuals from four other Ornithodoros species. Nineteen markers were selected to be as robust as possible for population genetic studies on O. phacochoerus. CONCLUSIONS The microsatellite markers developed here represent the first genetic tool to study nidicolous populations of O. phacochoerus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Florian Taraveau
- UMR ASTRE, CIRAD, INRAE, Campus de Baillarguet, 34398, Montpellier, France.
| | - David Bru
- UMR ASTRE, CIRAD, INRAE, Campus de Baillarguet, 34398, Montpellier, France
| | - Carlos João Quembo
- Central Region Office-Regional Veterinary Laboratory, Agricultural Research Institute of Mozambique, Chimoio, EN6.CP42, Mozambique
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Cui H, Shen S, Chen L, Fan Z, Wen Q, Xing Y, Wang Z, Zhang J, Chen J, La B, Fang Y, Yang Z, Yang S, Yan X, Pei S, Li T, Cui X, Jia Z, Cao W. Global epidemiology of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus in human and animals: a systematic review and meta-analysis. THE LANCET REGIONAL HEALTH. WESTERN PACIFIC 2024; 48:101133. [PMID: 39040038 PMCID: PMC11261768 DOI: 10.1016/j.lanwpc.2024.101133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2024] [Revised: 06/07/2024] [Accepted: 06/17/2024] [Indexed: 07/24/2024]
Abstract
Background Since the initial identification of the Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (SFTS) in ticks in rural areas of China in 2009, the virus has been increasingly isolated from a diverse array of hosts globally, exhibiting a rising trend in incidence. This study aims to conduct a systematic analysis of the temporal and spatial distribution of SFTS cases, alongside an examination of the infection rates across various hosts, with the objective of addressing public concerns regarding the spread and impact of the disease. Methods In this systematic review and meta-analysis, an exhaustive search was conducted across multiple databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Medline, CNKI, WanFang, and CQVIP. The literature search was confined to publications released between January 1, 2009, and May 29, 2023. The study focused on collating data pertaining to animal infections under natural conditions and human infection cases reported. Additionally, species names were unified using the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database. The notification rate, notification death rate, case fatality rate, and infection rates (or MIR) were assessed for each study with available data. The proportions were pooled using a generalized linear mixed-effects model (GLMM). Meta-regressions were conducted for subgroup analysis. This research has been duly registered with PROSPERO, bearing the registration number CRD42023431010. Findings We identified 5492 studies from database searches and assessed 238 full-text studies for eligibility, of which 234 studies were included in the meta-analysis. For human infection data, the overall pooled notification rate was 18.93 (95% CI 17.02-21.05) per ten million people, the overall pooled notification deaths rate was 3.49 (95% CI 2.97-4.10) per ten million people, and the overall pooled case fatality rate was 7.80% (95% CI 7.01%-8.69%). There was an increasing trend in notification rate and deaths rate, while the case fatality rate showed a significant decrease globally. Regarding animal infection data, among 94 species tested, 48 species were found to carry positive nucleic acid or antibodies. Out of these, 14 species were classified under Arthropoda, while 34 species fell under Chordata, comprising 27 Mammalia and 7 Aves. Interpretation This systematic review and meta-analysis present the latest global report on SFTS. In terms of human infections, notification rates and notification deaths rates are on the rise, while the case fatality rate has significantly decreased. More SFTSV animal hosts have been discovered than before, particularly among birds, indicating a potentially broader transmission range for SFTSV. These findings provide crucial insights for the prevention and control of SFTS on a global scale. Funding None.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haoliang Cui
- School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Shijing Shen
- Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China
| | - Lin Chen
- School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Zhiyu Fan
- School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Qian Wen
- School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Yiwen Xing
- School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Zekun Wang
- School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Jianyi Zhang
- School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Jingyuan Chen
- School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Bin La
- School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Yujie Fang
- School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Zeping Yang
- School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Shuhan Yang
- Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Xiangyu Yan
- Institute of Disaster and Emergency Medicine, Medical School, Tianjin University, No. 92 Weijin Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300072, China
| | - Shaojun Pei
- School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Tao Li
- School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
- Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China
| | - Xiaoming Cui
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, China
| | - Zhongwei Jia
- School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
- Center for Intelligent Public Health, Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Peking University, Beijing, China
- Center for Drug Abuse Control and Prevention, National Institute of Health Data Science, Peking University, Beijing, China
- Peking University Clinical Research Institute, Beijing, China
| | - Wuchun Cao
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, China
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Zhan M, Yin J, Xu T, Wen L. Alpha-Gal Syndrome: An Underrated Serious Disease and a Potential Future Challenge. GLOBAL CHALLENGES (HOBOKEN, NJ) 2024; 8:2300331. [PMID: 39006061 PMCID: PMC11237182 DOI: 10.1002/gch2.202300331] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2023] [Revised: 12/30/2023] [Indexed: 07/16/2024]
Abstract
Over the past decades, red meat allergy, also known as mammalian meat allergy, which manifests differently from classic food allergies, has been reported in different countries and regions, including China. The allergen of this disease is not a protein but an oligosaccharide: galactose-α-1,3-galactose, i.e., alpha-gal or α-gal. Therefore, this clinical syndrome is also called α-gal syndrome (AGS). It clinically manifests as delayed anaphylaxis, i.e., patients generally develop allergic symptoms 2-6 h after ingesting red meat. This clinical manifestation is believed to be related to sensitization to α-gal after tick bites. Sensitized individuals may also develop anaphylaxis after ingesting food and medicine or being exposed to medical equipment containing α-gal, such as cetuximab and gelatin. Here, the literature on AGS is reviewed for a better understanding of its pathogenesis, clinical diagnosis, and treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mengyuan Zhan
- Department of AllergyState Key Laboratory of Complex Severe and Rare DiseasesPeking Union Medical College HospitalChinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical CollegeBeijing100730China
- Allergy DepartmentBeijing Key Laboratory of Precision Medicine for Diagnosis and Treatment of Allergic DiseasesNational Clinical Research Center for Dermatologic and Immunologic DiseasesPeking Union Medical College HospitalChinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical CollegeBeijing100730China
| | - Jia Yin
- Department of AllergyState Key Laboratory of Complex Severe and Rare DiseasesPeking Union Medical College HospitalChinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical CollegeBeijing100730China
- Allergy DepartmentBeijing Key Laboratory of Precision Medicine for Diagnosis and Treatment of Allergic DiseasesNational Clinical Research Center for Dermatologic and Immunologic DiseasesPeking Union Medical College HospitalChinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical CollegeBeijing100730China
| | - Tengda Xu
- Department of Health CarePeking Union Medical College HospitalChinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical CollegeBeijing100730China
| | - Liping Wen
- Department of AllergyState Key Laboratory of Complex Severe and Rare DiseasesPeking Union Medical College HospitalChinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical CollegeBeijing100730China
- Allergy DepartmentBeijing Key Laboratory of Precision Medicine for Diagnosis and Treatment of Allergic DiseasesNational Clinical Research Center for Dermatologic and Immunologic DiseasesPeking Union Medical College HospitalChinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical CollegeBeijing100730China
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12
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Almazán C, Torres Rodríguez L, Alanazi AD, Šlapeta J. American mitogenome reference for the tropical brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus linnaei (Audouin, 1826). CURRENT RESEARCH IN PARASITOLOGY & VECTOR-BORNE DISEASES 2024; 6:100194. [PMID: 39036815 PMCID: PMC11260381 DOI: 10.1016/j.crpvbd.2024.100194] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2024] [Revised: 06/09/2024] [Accepted: 06/18/2024] [Indexed: 07/23/2024]
Abstract
The brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus linnaei (Audouin, 1826), is distributed across the American continent and is formerly known as the "tropical lineage". It belongs to the Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille, 1806) species complex, referred to as R. sanguineus (sensu lato). Mitochondrial genome sequences are frequently used for the identification and represent reference material for field studies. In the present study, the entire mitochondrial genomes of R. linnaei (∼15 kb) collected from dogs in Mexico were sequenced and compared with available mitogenomes of R. sanguineus (s.l.). The mitochondrial genome is ∼90% identical to the reference genome of R. sanguineus (sensu stricto, former "temperate lineage") and > 99% identical to R. linnaei mitogenome derived from the neotype. Two additional mitogenomes were obtained and described as R. linnaei and R. turanicus from dogs in Saudi Arabia. The present study delivers a molecular reference for R. linnaei from America and complements R. linnaei mitogenomes from Africa, Asia and Australia. We propose to consider the complete mitogenome, as the reference for American R. linnaei, even when partial mitochondrial cox1, 12S rRNA or 16S rRNA genes are characterised.
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Affiliation(s)
- Consuelo Almazán
- Immunology and Vaccines Laboratory, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, Querétaro, Qro., 76140, Mexico
| | - Lorena Torres Rodríguez
- Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas, Km 5 Carretera Victoria-Mante, Cd. Victoria, Tam., CP, 87000, Mexico
| | - Abdullah D. Alanazi
- Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science and Humanities, Shaqra University, P.O. Box 1040, Ad-Dawadimi, 11911, Saudi Arabia
| | - Jan Šlapeta
- Sydney School of Veterinary Science, Faculty of Science, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, 2006, Australia
- Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute, The University of Sydney, New South Wales, 2006, Australia
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13
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Martinez-Villegas L, Lado P, Klompen H, Wang S, Cummings C, Pesapane R, Short SM. The microbiota of Amblyomma americanum reflects known westward expansion. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0304959. [PMID: 38857239 PMCID: PMC11164389 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0304959] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2023] [Accepted: 05/22/2024] [Indexed: 06/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Amblyomma americanum, a known vector of multiple tick-borne pathogens, has expanded its geographic distribution across the United States in the past decades. Tick microbiomes may play a role shaping their host's life history and vectorial capacity. Bacterial communities associated with A. americanum may reflect, or enable, geographic expansion and studying the microbiota will improve understanding of tick-borne disease ecology. We examined the microbiota structure of 189 adult ticks collected in four regions encompassing their historical and current geographic distribution. Both geographic region of origin and sex were significant predictors of alpha diversity. As in other tick models, within-sample diversity was low and uneven given the presence of dominant endosymbionts. Beta diversity analyses revealed that bacterial profiles of ticks of both sexes collected in the West were significantly different from those of the Historic range. Biomarkers were identified for all regions except the historical range. In addition, Bray-Curtis dissimilarities overall increased with distance between sites. Relative quantification of ecological processes showed that, for females and males, respectively, drift and dispersal limitation were the primary drivers of community assembly. Collectively, our findings highlight how microbiota structural variance discriminates the western-expanded populations of A. americanum ticks from the Historical range. Spatial autocorrelation, and particularly the detection of non-selective ecological processes, are indicative of geographic isolation. We also found that prevalence of Ehrlichia chaffeensis, E. ewingii, and Anaplasma phagocytophilum ranged from 3.40-5.11% and did not significantly differ by region. Rickettsia rickettsii was absent from our samples. Our conclusions demonstrate the value of synergistic analysis of biogeographic and microbial ecology data in investigating range expansion in A. americanum and potentially other tick vectors as well.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luis Martinez-Villegas
- Department of Entomology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Paula Lado
- Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Hans Klompen
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology and Museum of Biological Diversity, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Selena Wang
- Veterinary Preventive Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Caleb Cummings
- Veterinary Preventive Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Risa Pesapane
- Veterinary Preventive Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
- School of Environment and Natural Resources, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Sarah M. Short
- Department of Entomology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
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14
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Feng T, Tong H, Zhang F, Zhang Q, Zhang H, Zhou X, Ruan H, Wu Q, Dai J. Transcriptome study reveals tick immune genes restrict Babesia microti infection. INSECT SCIENCE 2024. [PMID: 38837613 DOI: 10.1111/1744-7917.13384] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/26/2023] [Revised: 04/26/2024] [Accepted: 04/29/2024] [Indexed: 06/07/2024]
Abstract
A systems biology approach was employed to gain insight into tick biology and interactions between vectors and pathogens. Haemaphysalis longicornis serves as one of the primary vectors of Babesia microti, significantly impacting human and animal health. Obtaining more information about their relationship is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of tick and pathogen biology, pathogen transmission dynamics, and potential control strategies. RNA sequencing of uninfected and B. microti-infected ticks resulted in the identification of 15 056 unigenes. Among these, 1 051 were found to be differentially expressed, with 796 being upregulated and 255 downregulated (P < 0.05). Integrated transcriptomics datasets revealed the pivotal role of immune-related pathways, including the Toll, Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription (JAK-STAT), immunodeficiency, and RNA interference (RNAi) pathways, in response to infection. Consequently, 3 genes encoding critical transcriptional factor Dorsal, Relish, and STAT were selected for RNAi experiments. The knockdown of Dorsal, Relish, and STAT resulted in a substantial increase in Babesia infection levels compared to the respective controls. These findings significantly advanced our understanding of tick-Babesia molecular interactions and proposed novel tick antigens as potential vaccine targets against tick infestations and pathogen transmission.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tingting Feng
- Institute of Biology and Medical Sciences, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Infection and Immunity, MOE Key Laboratory of Geriatric Diseases and Immunology, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
- Central Laboratory, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Hao Tong
- Institute of Biology and Medical Sciences, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Infection and Immunity, MOE Key Laboratory of Geriatric Diseases and Immunology, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
| | - Feihu Zhang
- Institute of Biology and Medical Sciences, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Infection and Immunity, MOE Key Laboratory of Geriatric Diseases and Immunology, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
| | - Qianqian Zhang
- Institute of Biology and Medical Sciences, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Infection and Immunity, MOE Key Laboratory of Geriatric Diseases and Immunology, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
| | - Heng Zhang
- Pasteurien College, Suzhou Medical College, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
| | - Xia Zhou
- School of Biology and Basic Medical Science, Suzhou Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
| | - Hang Ruan
- Institute of Biology and Medical Sciences, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Infection and Immunity, MOE Key Laboratory of Geriatric Diseases and Immunology, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
| | - Qihan Wu
- Shanghai-MOST Key Laboratory of Health and Disease Genomics, NHC Key Lab of Reproduction Regulation, Shanghai Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Technologies, Shanghai, China
| | - Jianfeng Dai
- Institute of Biology and Medical Sciences, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Infection and Immunity, MOE Key Laboratory of Geriatric Diseases and Immunology, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
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15
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de Sousa-Paula LC, Berger M, Talyuli OAC, Schwartz CL, Saturday GA, Ribeiro JMC, Tirloni L. Exploring the transcriptome of immature stages of Ornithodoros hermsi, the soft-tick vector of tick-borne relapsing fever. Sci Rep 2024; 14:12466. [PMID: 38816418 PMCID: PMC11140000 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-62732-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2024] [Accepted: 05/21/2024] [Indexed: 06/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Blood-feeding behavior has independently evolved in arthropods multiple times. Unlike hard ticks, soft ticks employ a rapid-feeding strategy for hematophagy, and there are comparatively limited studies on the transcriptomes of these organisms. This study investigates the soft tick Ornithodoros hermsi, conducting histopathological examinations at bitten skin sites and tick whole-body transcriptomic analyses across various developmental and feeding stages, including larvae, 1st-nymphal, and 2nd-nymphal stages. The results revealed the ability of O. hermsi to induce skin hemorrhage at the bite sites. Transcriptomic analyses identified three consistent transcriptional profiles: unfed, early-fed (6 h, 12 h, 24 h), and late-fed (5 days). The unfed profile exhibited high transcriptional activity across most of the functional classes annotated. In contrast, early-fed stages exhibited decreased expression of most functional classes, except for the unknown, which is highly expressed. Finally, transcriptional expression of most functional classes increased in the late-fed groups, resembling the baseline expression observed in the unfed groups. These findings highlight intense pre-feeding transcriptional activity in O. hermsi ticks, aligning with their rapid-feeding strategy. Moreover, besides shedding light on the temporal dynamics of key pathways during blood meal processing and tick development, this study contributes significantly to the transcriptome repertoire of a medically relevant soft tick species with relatively limited prior knowledge.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucas C de Sousa-Paula
- Tick-Pathogen Transmission Unit, Laboratory of Bacteriology, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Hamilton, MT, USA
| | - Markus Berger
- Tick-Pathogen Transmission Unit, Laboratory of Bacteriology, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Hamilton, MT, USA
- Grupo de Reprodução e Farmacologia Celular, Laboratório de Bioquímica Farmacológica, Centro de Pesquisa Experimental (CPE), Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA-UFRGS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
| | - Octavio A C Talyuli
- Mosquito Immunity and Vector Competence Section, Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Rockville, MD, USA
| | - Cindi L Schwartz
- Electron Microscopy Unit, Research Technologies Branch, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Hamilton, MT, USA
| | - Greg A Saturday
- Rocky Mountain Veterinary Branch, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Hamilton, MT, USA
| | - José M C Ribeiro
- Vector Biology Section, Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Rockville, MD, USA
| | - Lucas Tirloni
- Tick-Pathogen Transmission Unit, Laboratory of Bacteriology, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Hamilton, MT, USA.
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16
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Le Mauff A, Norris EJ, Li AY, Swale DR. Repellent activity of essential oils to the Lone Star tick, Amblyomma americanum. Parasit Vectors 2024; 17:202. [PMID: 38711138 DOI: 10.1186/s13071-024-06246-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2024] [Accepted: 03/14/2024] [Indexed: 05/08/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The Lone Star tick, Amblyomma americanum is important to human health because of a variety of pathogenic organisms transmitted to humans during feeding events, which underscores the need to identify novel approaches to prevent tick bites. Thus, the goal of this study was to test natural and synthetic molecules for repellent activity against ticks in spatial, contact and human fingertip bioassays. METHODS The efficacy of essential oils and naturally derived compounds as repellents to Am. americanum nymphs was compared in three different bioassays: contact, spatial and fingertip repellent bioassays. RESULTS Concentration response curves after contact exposure to 1R-trans-chrysanthemic acid (TCA) indicated a 5.6 μg/cm2 concentration required to repel 50% of ticks (RC50), which was five- and sevenfold more active than DEET and nootkatone, respectively. For contact repellency, the rank order of repellency at 50 μg/cm2 for natural oils was clove > geranium > oregano > cedarwood > thyme > amyris > patchouli > citronella > juniper berry > peppermint > cassia. For spatial bioassays, TCA was approximately twofold more active than DEET and nootkatone at 50 μg/cm2 but was not significantly different at 10 μg/cm2. In spatial assays, thyme and cassia were the most active compounds tested with 100% and 80% ticks repelled within 15 min of exposure respectively and was approximately twofold more effective than DEET at the same concentration. To translate these non-host assays to efficacy when used on the human host, we quantified repellency using a finger-climbing assay. TCA, nootkatone and DEET were equally effective in the fingertip assay, and patchouli oil was the only natural oil that significantly repelled ticks. CONCLUSIONS The differences in repellent potency based on the assay type suggests that the ability to discover active tick repellents suitable for development may be more complicated than with other arthropod species; furthermore, the field delivery mechanism must be considered early in development to ensure translation to field efficacy. TCA, which is naturally derived, is a promising candidate for a tick repellent that has comparable repellency to commercialized tick repellents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anais Le Mauff
- Emerging Pathogens Institute, Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of Florida, 2055 Mowry Road, PO Box 100009, Gainesville, FL, 32610, USA
| | - Edmund J Norris
- Center for Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary Entomology, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Gainesville, FL, 32608, USA
| | - Andrew Y Li
- Invasive Insect Biocontrol & Behavior Laboratory, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, MD, 20705, USA
| | - Daniel R Swale
- Emerging Pathogens Institute, Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of Florida, 2055 Mowry Road, PO Box 100009, Gainesville, FL, 32610, USA.
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17
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Alale TY, Sormunen JJ, Vesterinen EJ, Klemola T, Knott KE, Baltazar‐Soares M. Genomic signatures of hybridization between Ixodes ricinus and Ixodes persulcatus in natural populations. Ecol Evol 2024; 14:e11415. [PMID: 38770117 PMCID: PMC11103643 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.11415] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2023] [Revised: 04/03/2024] [Accepted: 04/29/2024] [Indexed: 05/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Identifying hybridization between common pathogen vectors is essential due to the major public health implications through risks associated with hybrid's enhanced pathogen transmission potential. The hard-ticks Ixodes ricinus and Ixodes persulcatus are the two most common vectors of tick-borne pathogens that affect human and animal health in Europe. Ixodes ricinus is a known native species in Finland with a well-known distribution, whereas I. persulcatus has expanded in range and abundance over the past 60 years, and currently it appears the most common tick species in certain areas in Finland. Here we used double-digest restriction site-associated DNA (ddRAD) sequencing on 186 ticks (morphologically identified as 92 I. ricinus, and 94 I. persulcatus) collected across Finland to investigate whether RAD generated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) can discriminate tick species and identify potential hybridization events. Two different clustering methods were used to assign specific species based on how they clustered and identified hybrids among them. We were able to discriminate between the two tick species and identified 11 putative hybrids with admixed genomic proportions ranging from approximately 24 to 76 percent. Four of these hybrids were morphologically identified as I. ricinus while the remaining seven were identified as I. persulcatus. Our results thus indicate that RAD SNPs are robust in identifying both species of the ticks as well as putative hybrids. These results further suggest ongoing hybridization between I. ricinus and I. persulcatus in their natural populations in Finland. The unique ability of RAD markers to discriminate between tick species and hybrids adds a useful aspect to tick evolutionary studies. Our findings align with previous studies and suggest a shared evolutionary history between the species, with instances of individuals possessing a considerable proportion of the other species' genome. This study is a significant step in understanding the formation of hybridization zones due to range expansion potentially associated with climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Theophilus Yaw Alale
- Department of BiologyUniversity of TurkuTurkuFinland
- Biodiversity UnitUniversity of TurkuTurkuFinland
| | - Jani J. Sormunen
- Department of BiologyUniversity of TurkuTurkuFinland
- Biodiversity UnitUniversity of TurkuTurkuFinland
| | | | - Tero Klemola
- Department of BiologyUniversity of TurkuTurkuFinland
| | - K. Emily Knott
- Department of Biological and Environmental ScienceUniversity of JyväskyläJyväskyläFinland
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18
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Zhang MZ, Wang J, Du LF, He PJ, Jia N. The impact of volatiles on tick-host interaction and vector competence. CURRENT OPINION IN INSECT SCIENCE 2024; 62:101162. [PMID: 38237733 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2024.101162] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2023] [Revised: 12/24/2023] [Accepted: 01/10/2024] [Indexed: 02/15/2024]
Abstract
Ticks are obligatory hematophagous arachnids, serving as vectors for a wide array of pathogens that can be transmitted to humans or animals. The ability of tick-borne pathogens to maintain within natural reservoirs is intricately influenced by the attractiveness of ticks to their animal hosts, including humans. However, the complex dynamics of tick behavior and host-seeking strategies remain understudied. This review aims to summarize the impact of volatiles or odors on tick behavior and vector competence. Our literature review has identified a selection of compounds, such as 1-octen-3-ol, hexanal, heptanal, nonanal, 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one, acetone, and octanal, as having the potential to impact both ticks' and mosquitos' behaviors. In addition, carbon dioxide (CO2) is a universal attractant for hematophagous arthropods. Moreover, we have gathered some clues indicating that volatiles emitted by infected animal hosts might play a role in the transmission of tick-borne pathogens. Nonetheless, our understanding of this phenomenon remains largely inadequate, particularly with regarding to whether the tick microbiome or the skin microbiota of the feeding mammals, including humans, can actively modulate tick-host-seeking behavior. Further investigations in this emerging field hold immense promise for the development of innovative strategies aimed at controlling vectors and curtailing the spread of tick-borne diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ming-Zhu Zhang
- Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Shandong University, 44 Wenhuaxi Street, Jinan 250012, Shandong, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing 100071, PR China
| | - Juan Wang
- School of Public Health and Health Management, Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou 341000, PR China
| | - Li-Feng Du
- Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Shandong University, 44 Wenhuaxi Street, Jinan 250012, Shandong, PR China
| | - Pei-Jun He
- School of Public Health and Health Management, Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou 341000, PR China
| | - Na Jia
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing 100071, PR China.
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Xiao J, Yao X, Guan X, Xiong J, Fang Y, Zhang J, Zhang Y, Moming A, Su Z, Jin J, Ge Y, Wang J, Fan Z, Tang S, Shen S, Deng F. Viromes of Haemaphysalis longicornis reveal different viral abundance and diversity in free and engorged ticks. Virol Sin 2024; 39:194-204. [PMID: 38360150 PMCID: PMC11074643 DOI: 10.1016/j.virs.2024.02.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2023] [Accepted: 02/08/2024] [Indexed: 02/17/2024] Open
Abstract
Haemaphysalis longicornis ticks, commonly found in East Asia, can transmit various pathogenic viruses, including the severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) that has caused febrile diseases among humans in Hubei Province. However, understanding of the viromes of H. longicornis was limited, and the prevalence of viruses among H. longicornis ticks in Hubei was not well clarified. This study investigates the viromes of both engorged (fed) and free (unfed) H. longicornis ticks across three mountainous regions in Hubei Province from 2019 to 2020. RNA-sequencing analysis identified viral sequences that were related to 39 reference viruses belonging to unclassified viruses and seven RNA viral families, namely Chuviridae, Nairoviridae, Orthomyxoviridae, Parvoviridae, Phenuiviridae, Rhabdoviridae, and Totiviridae. Viral abundance and diversity in these ticks were analysed, and phylogenetic characteristics of the Henan tick virus (HNTV), Dabieshan tick virus (DBSTV), Okutama tick virus (OKTV), and Jingmen tick virus (JMTV) were elucidated based on their full genomic sequences. Prevalence analysis demonstrated that DBSTV was the most common virus found in individual H. longicornis ticks (12.59%), followed by HNTV (0.35%), whereas JMTV and OKTV were not detected. These results improve our understanding of H. longicornis tick viromes in central China and highlight the role of tick feeding status and geography in shaping the viral community. The findings of new viral strains and their potential impact on public health raise the need to strengthen surveillance efforts for comprehensively assessing their spillover potentials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jian Xiao
- Key Laboratory of Virology and Biosafety and National Virus Resource Center, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 101408, China
| | - Xuan Yao
- Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Wuhan, 430070, China
| | - Xuhua Guan
- Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Wuhan, 430070, China
| | - Jinfeng Xiong
- Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Wuhan, 430070, China
| | - Yaohui Fang
- Key Laboratory of Virology and Biosafety and National Virus Resource Center, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, China
| | - Jingyuan Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Virology and Biosafety and National Virus Resource Center, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, China
| | - You Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Virology and Biosafety and National Virus Resource Center, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, China; Current address: Department of Medical Laboratory, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, 57000, China
| | - Abulimiti Moming
- Key Laboratory of Virology and Biosafety and National Virus Resource Center, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, China; Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Vector-borne Infectious Diseases, Urumqi, 830002, China
| | - Zhengyuan Su
- Key Laboratory of Virology and Biosafety and National Virus Resource Center, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, China
| | - Jiayin Jin
- Key Laboratory of Virology and Biosafety and National Virus Resource Center, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, China
| | - Yingying Ge
- Key Laboratory of Virology and Biosafety and National Virus Resource Center, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, China
| | - Jun Wang
- Key Laboratory of Virology and Biosafety and National Virus Resource Center, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, China
| | - Zhaojun Fan
- Key Laboratory of Virology and Biosafety and National Virus Resource Center, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, China
| | - Shuang Tang
- Key Laboratory of Virology and Biosafety and National Virus Resource Center, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, China
| | - Shu Shen
- Key Laboratory of Virology and Biosafety and National Virus Resource Center, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, China; Hubei Jiangxia Laboratory, Wuhan, 430200, China; Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Vector-borne Infectious Diseases, Urumqi, 830002, China.
| | - Fei Deng
- Key Laboratory of Virology and Biosafety and National Virus Resource Center, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, China.
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Sun Y, Chen C, Zeng C, Xia Q, Yuan C, Pei H. Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus infection shapes gut microbiome of the tick vector Haemaphysalis longicornis. Parasit Vectors 2024; 17:107. [PMID: 38444018 PMCID: PMC10913621 DOI: 10.1186/s13071-024-06204-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2023] [Accepted: 02/16/2024] [Indexed: 03/07/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Ticks serve as vectors for a diverse array of pathogens, including viruses responsible for both human and livestock diseases. Symbiotic bacteria hold significant potential for controlling tick-borne disease. However, the alteration of tick gut bacterial community in response to pathogen infection has not been analyzed for any tick-borne viruses. Here, the impact of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) infection on bacterial diversity in the gut of Haemaphysalis longicornis is investigated. METHODS Unfed tick females were artificially infected with SFTSV. The gut samples were collected and the genomic DNA was extracted. We then investigated alterations in gut bacterial composition in response to SFTSV infection through 16S rRNA gene sequencing. RESULTS The study found that a reduction in the number of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in the tick gut following SFTSV infection. However, there were no significant changes in alpha diversity indices upon infection. Four genera, including Corynebacterium, Arthrobacter, Sphingomonas, and Escherichia, were identified as biomarkers for the tick gut without SFTSV infection. Notably, the predicted correlation network indicated that the biomarkers Sphingomonas and Escherichia exhibited positive correlations within the same subcommunity, which was altered upon viral infection. CONCLUSIONS These findings revealed that the change in tick gut bacterial composition upon SFTSV infection and could facilitate the discovery new target for tick-borne viral disease control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu Sun
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Translational Medicine of Ministry of Education, International School of Public Health and One Health, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, 571199, Hainan, China
| | - Chen Chen
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Translational Medicine of Ministry of Education, NHC Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Control, School of Tropical Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, 571199, Hainan, China
| | - Chenghong Zeng
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Translational Medicine of Ministry of Education, NHC Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Control, School of Tropical Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, 571199, Hainan, China
| | - Qianfeng Xia
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Translational Medicine of Ministry of Education, International School of Public Health and One Health, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, 571199, Hainan, China.
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Translational Medicine of Ministry of Education, NHC Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Control, School of Tropical Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, 571199, Hainan, China.
| | - Chuanfei Yuan
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Translational Medicine of Ministry of Education, NHC Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Control, School of Tropical Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, 571199, Hainan, China.
| | - Hua Pei
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Translational Medicine of Ministry of Education, NHC Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Control, School of Tropical Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, 571199, Hainan, China.
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21
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Rosani U, Sollitto M, Fogal N, Salata C. Comparative analysis of Presence-Absence gene Variations in five hard tick species: impact and functional considerations. Int J Parasitol 2024; 54:147-156. [PMID: 37806426 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpara.2023.08.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2023] [Revised: 08/06/2023] [Accepted: 08/31/2023] [Indexed: 10/10/2023]
Abstract
Tick species are vectors of harmful human and animal diseases, and their expansion is raising concerns under the global environmental changes' scenario. Ticks host and transmit bacteria, protozoa and viruses, making the understanding of host-pathogen molecular pathways critical to development of effective disease control strategies. Despite the considerable sizes and repeat contents of tick genomes, individual tick genomics is perhaps the most effective approach to reveal genotypic traits of interest. Presence-Absence gene Variations (PAVs) can contribute to individual differences within species, with dispensable genes carried by subsets of individuals possibly underpinning functional significance at individual or population-levels. We exploited 350 resequencing datasets of Dermacentor silvarum, Haemaphysalis longicornis, Ixodes persulcatus, Rhipicephalus microplus and Rhipicephalus sanguineus hard tick specimens to reveal the extension of PAV and the conservation of dispensable genes among individuals and, comparatively, between species. Overall, we traced 550-3,346 dispensable genes per species and were able to reconstruct 5.3-7 Mb of genomic regions not included in the respective reference genomes, as part of the tick pangenomes. Both dispensable genes and de novo predicted genes indicated that PAVs preferentially impacted mobile genetic elements in these tick species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Umberto Rosani
- Department of Biology, University of Padova, 35121 Padova, Italy.
| | - Marco Sollitto
- Department of Life Science, University of Trieste, 34100 Trieste, Italy; Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, University of Primorska, Glagoljaška 8, 6000 Koper, Slovenia
| | - Nicolò Fogal
- Department of Biology, University of Padova, 35121 Padova, Italy
| | - Cristiano Salata
- Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padova, 35121 Padova, Italy
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22
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Wang J, Chai Y, Yang J, Chen K, Liu G, Luo J, Guan G, Ren Q, Yin H. Insight into Hyalomma anatolicum biology by comparative genomics analyses. Int J Parasitol 2024; 54:157-170. [PMID: 37858900 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpara.2023.09.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2023] [Revised: 09/19/2023] [Accepted: 09/22/2023] [Indexed: 10/21/2023]
Abstract
Hyalomma anatolicum is an obligatory blood-sucking ectoparasite and contributes to the transmission of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus, Theileria spp. and Babesia spp. Progress in exploring the adaptive strategy of this ectoparasite and developing tools to fight it has been hindered by the lack of a complete genome. Herein, we assembled the genome using diverse sources of data from multiple sequencing platforms and annotated the 1.96 Gb genome of Hy. anatolicum. Comparative genome analyses and the predicted protein encoding genes reveal unique facets of this genome, including gene family expansion associated with blood feeding and digestion, multi-gene families involved in detoxification, a great number of neuropeptides and corresponding receptors regulating tick growth, development, and reproduction, and glutathione S-transferase genes playing roles in insecticide resistance and detoxification of multiple xenobiotic factors. This high quality reference genome provides fundamental data for obtaining insights into a variety of aspects of tick biology and developing novel strategies to fight notorious tick vectors of human and animal pathogens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jinming Wang
- State Key Laboratory for Animal Disease and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Lanzhou, Gansu 730046, China.
| | - Yijun Chai
- State Key Laboratory for Animal Disease and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Lanzhou, Gansu 730046, China
| | - Jifei Yang
- State Key Laboratory for Animal Disease and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Lanzhou, Gansu 730046, China
| | - Kai Chen
- Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China
| | - Guangyuan Liu
- State Key Laboratory for Animal Disease and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Lanzhou, Gansu 730046, China
| | - Jianxun Luo
- State Key Laboratory for Animal Disease and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Lanzhou, Gansu 730046, China
| | - Guiquan Guan
- State Key Laboratory for Animal Disease and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Lanzhou, Gansu 730046, China.
| | - Qiaoyun Ren
- State Key Laboratory for Animal Disease and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Lanzhou, Gansu 730046, China.
| | - Hong Yin
- State Key Laboratory for Animal Disease and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Lanzhou, Gansu 730046, China; Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for the Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Disease and Zoonoses, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China.
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23
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Ye RZ, Li YY, Xu DL, Wang BH, Wang XY, Zhang MZ, Wang N, Gao WY, Li C, Han XY, Du LF, Xia LY, Song K, Xu Q, Liu J, Cheng N, Li ZH, Du YD, Yu HJ, Shi XY, Jiang JF, Sun Y, Cui XM, Ding SJ, Zhao L, Cao WC. Virome diversity shaped by genetic evolution and ecological landscape of Haemaphysalis longicornis. MICROBIOME 2024; 12:35. [PMID: 38378577 PMCID: PMC10880243 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-024-01753-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2023] [Accepted: 01/04/2024] [Indexed: 02/22/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Haemaphysalis longicornis is drawing attentions for its geographic invasion, extending population, and emerging disease threat. However, there are still substantial gaps in our knowledge of viral composition in relation to genetic diversity of H. longicornis and ecological factors, which are important for us to understand interactions between virus and vector, as well as between vector and ecological elements. RESULTS We conducted the meta-transcriptomic sequencing of 136 pools of H. longicornis and identified 508 RNA viruses of 48 viral species, 22 of which have never been reported. Phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrion sequences divided the ticks into two genetic clades, each of which was geographically clustered and significantly associated with ecological factors, including altitude, precipitation, and normalized difference vegetation index. The two clades showed significant difference in virome diversity and shared about one fifth number of viral species that might have evolved to "generalists." Notably, Bandavirus dabieense, the pathogen of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome was only detected in ticks of clade 1, and half number of clade 2-specific viruses were aquatic-animal-associated. CONCLUSIONS These findings highlight that the virome diversity is shaped by internal genetic evolution and external ecological landscape of H. longicornis and provide the new foundation for promoting the studies on virus-vector-ecology interaction and eventually for evaluating the risk of H. longicornis for transmitting the viruses to humans and animals. Video Abstract.
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Affiliation(s)
- Run-Ze Ye
- Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People's Republic of China
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Yu-Yu Li
- Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People's Republic of China
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, People's Republic of China
| | - Da-Li Xu
- Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People's Republic of China
- Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Shandong Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Jinan, Shandong, People's Republic of China
| | - Bai-Hui Wang
- Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People's Republic of China
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Xiao-Yang Wang
- Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People's Republic of China
| | - Ming-Zhu Zhang
- Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People's Republic of China
| | - Ning Wang
- Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People's Republic of China
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Wan-Ying Gao
- Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People's Republic of China
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Cheng Li
- Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People's Republic of China
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Xiao-Yu Han
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Li-Feng Du
- Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People's Republic of China
| | - Luo-Yuan Xia
- Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People's Republic of China
| | - Ke Song
- Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People's Republic of China
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, People's Republic of China
| | - Qing Xu
- Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People's Republic of China
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, People's Republic of China
| | - Jing Liu
- Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People's Republic of China
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, People's Republic of China
| | - Nuo Cheng
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Ze-Hui Li
- Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People's Republic of China
| | - Yi-Di Du
- Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People's Republic of China
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Hui-Jun Yu
- Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People's Republic of China
| | - Xiao-Yu Shi
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Jia-Fu Jiang
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Yi Sun
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Xiao-Ming Cui
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
- Research Unit of Discovery and Tracing of Natural Focus Diseases, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
| | - Shu-Jun Ding
- Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Shandong Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Jinan, Shandong, People's Republic of China.
| | - Lin Zhao
- Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People's Republic of China.
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, People's Republic of China.
| | - Wu-Chun Cao
- Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People's Republic of China.
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
- Research Unit of Discovery and Tracing of Natural Focus Diseases, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
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24
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Da Lage JL, Fontenelle A, Filée J, Merle M, Béranger JM, Almeida CE, Folly Ramos E, Harry M. Evidence that hematophagous triatomine bugs may eat plants in the wild. INSECT BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2024; 165:104059. [PMID: 38101706 DOI: 10.1016/j.ibmb.2023.104059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2023] [Revised: 09/29/2023] [Accepted: 12/07/2023] [Indexed: 12/17/2023]
Abstract
Blood feeding is a secondary adaptation in hematophagous bugs. Many proteins are secreted in the saliva that are devoted to coping with the host's defense and to process the blood meal. Digestive enzymes that are no longer required for a blood meal would be expected to be eventually lost. Yet, in many strictly hematophagous arthropods, α-amylase genes, which encode the enzymes that digest starch from plants, are still present and transcribed, including in the kissing bug Rhodnius prolixus (Hemiptera, Reduviidae) and its related species, which transmit the Chagas disease. We hypothesized that retaining α-amylase could be advantageous if the bugs occasionally consume plant tissues. We first checked that the α-amylase protein of Rhodnius robustus retains normal amylolytic activity. Then we surveyed hundreds of gut DNA extracts from the sylvatic R. robustus to detect traces of plants. We found plant DNA in 8% of the samples, mainly identified as Attalea palm trees, where R. robustus are usually found. We suggest that although of secondary importance in the blood-sucking bugs, α-amylase may be needed during occasional plant feeding and thus has been retained.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Luc Da Lage
- Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, IRD, UMR 9191 Évolution, Génomes, Comportement et Écologie, 91198, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
| | - Alice Fontenelle
- Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, IRD, UMR 9191 Évolution, Génomes, Comportement et Écologie, 91198, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Jonathan Filée
- Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, IRD, UMR 9191 Évolution, Génomes, Comportement et Écologie, 91198, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Marie Merle
- Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, IRD, UMR 9191 Évolution, Génomes, Comportement et Écologie, 91198, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Jean-Michel Béranger
- Département Systématique and Evolution, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France; IRD, AP-HM, SSA, VITROME, IHU-Méditerranée Infection, Aix Marseille Université, Marseille, France
| | - Carlos Eduardo Almeida
- Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Instituto de Biologia, Departamento de Zoologia, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Elaine Folly Ramos
- Departamento de Engenharia e Meio Ambiente - DEMA, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, João Pessoa, Brazil
| | - Myriam Harry
- Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, IRD, UMR 9191 Évolution, Génomes, Comportement et Écologie, 91198, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
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25
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Lin Y, Pascall DJ. Characterisation of putative novel tick viruses and zoonotic risk prediction. Ecol Evol 2024; 14:e10814. [PMID: 38259958 PMCID: PMC10800298 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.10814] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2023] [Revised: 11/02/2023] [Accepted: 11/24/2023] [Indexed: 01/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Tick-associated viruses remain a substantial zoonotic risk worldwide, so knowledge of the diversity of tick viruses has potential health consequences. Despite their importance, large amounts of sequences in public data sets from tick meta-genomic and -transcriptomic projects remain unannotated, sequence data that could contain undocumented viruses. Through data mining and bioinformatic analysis of more than 37,800 public meta-genomic and -transcriptomic data sets, we found 83 unannotated contigs exhibiting high identity with known tick viruses. These putative viral contigs were classified into three RNA viral families (Alphatetraviridae, Orthomyxoviridae and Chuviridae) and one DNA viral family (Asfarviridae). After manual checking of quality and dissimilarity towards other sequences in the data set, these 83 contigs were reduced to five contigs in the Alphatetraviridae from four putative viruses, four in the Orthomyxoviridae from two putative viruses and one in the Chuviridae which clustered with known tick-associated viruses, forming a separate clade within the viral families. We further attempted to assess which previously known tick viruses likely represent zoonotic risks and thus deserve further investigation. We ranked the human infection potential of 133 known tick-associated viruses using a genome composition-based machine learning model. We found five high-risk tick-associated viruses (Langat virus, Lonestar tick chuvirus 1, Grotenhout virus, Taggert virus and Johnston Atoll virus) that have not been known to infect human and two viral families (Nairoviridae and Phenuiviridae) that contain a large proportion of potential zoonotic tick-associated viruses. This adds to the knowledge of tick virus diversity and highlights the importance of surveillance of newly emerging tick-associated diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuting Lin
- MRC Biostatistics UnitUniversity of CambridgeCambridgeUK
- Royal Veterinary CollegeUniversity of LondonLondonUK
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26
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Nuss AB, Lomas JS, Reyes JB, Garcia-Cruz O, Lei W, Sharma A, Pham MN, Beniwal S, Swain ML, McVicar M, Hinne IA, Zhang X, Yim WC, Gulia-Nuss M. The highly improved genome of Ixodes scapularis with X and Y pseudochromosomes. Life Sci Alliance 2023; 6:e202302109. [PMID: 37813487 PMCID: PMC10561763 DOI: 10.26508/lsa.202302109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2023] [Revised: 09/21/2023] [Accepted: 09/22/2023] [Indexed: 10/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Ixodes scapularis, the black-legged tick, is the principal vector of the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, and is responsible for most of the ∼470,000 estimated Lyme disease cases annually in the USA. Ixodes scapularis can transmit six additional pathogens of human health significance. Because of its medical importance, I. scapularis was the first tick genome to be sequenced and annotated. However, the first assembly, I. scapularis Wikel (IscaW), was highly fragmented because of the technical challenges posed by the long, repetitive genome sequences characteristic of arthropod genomes and the lack of long-read sequencing techniques. Although I. scapularis has emerged as a model for tick research because of the availability of new tools such as embryo injection and CRISPR-Cas9-mediated gene editing yet the lack of chromosome-scale scaffolds has slowed progress in tick biology and the development of tools for their control. Here we combine diverse technologies to produce the I. scapularis Gulia-Nuss (IscGN) genome assembly and gene set. We used DNA from eggs and male and female adult ticks and took advantage of Hi-C, PacBio HiFi sequencing, and Illumina short-read sequencing technologies to produce a chromosome-level assembly. In this work, we present the predicted pseudochromosomes consisting of 13 autosomes and the sex pseudochromosomes: X and Y, and a markedly improved genome annotation compared with the existing assemblies and annotations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew B Nuss
- https://ror.org/01keh0577 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
- https://ror.org/01keh0577 Department of Agriculture, Veterinary, and Rangeland Sciences, The University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
| | - Johnathan S Lomas
- https://ror.org/01keh0577 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
| | - Jeremiah B Reyes
- https://ror.org/01keh0577 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
- https://ror.org/01keh0577 Nevada Bioinformatics Center, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
| | - Omar Garcia-Cruz
- https://ror.org/01keh0577 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
| | - Wenlong Lei
- Shenzhen Branch, Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Genome Analysis Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture, Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen, China
| | - Arvind Sharma
- https://ror.org/01keh0577 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
| | - Michael N Pham
- https://ror.org/01keh0577 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
| | - Saransh Beniwal
- https://ror.org/01keh0577 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
- https://ror.org/01keh0577 Department of Computer Science and Engineering, The University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
| | - Mia L Swain
- https://ror.org/01keh0577 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
| | - Molly McVicar
- https://ror.org/01keh0577 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
| | - Isaac Amankona Hinne
- https://ror.org/01keh0577 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
| | - Xingtan Zhang
- https://ror.org/01keh0577 Nevada Bioinformatics Center, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
| | - Won C Yim
- https://ror.org/01keh0577 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
| | - Monika Gulia-Nuss
- https://ror.org/01keh0577 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
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27
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Gutiérrez-Wong JR, Rosado-Aguilar JA, Rodríguez-Vivas RI. First report of acaricidal efficacy from plumbagin on larvae of Rhipicephalus microplus and Rhipicephalus sanguineus resistant to conventional acaricides. Exp Parasitol 2023; 255:108632. [PMID: 37832775 DOI: 10.1016/j.exppara.2023.108632] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2023] [Revised: 10/10/2023] [Accepted: 10/11/2023] [Indexed: 10/15/2023]
Abstract
The problem of resistance to acaricides in ticks such as Rhipicephalus microplus and R. sanguineus has motivated the search for control alternatives, such as the use of extracts and secondary metabolites from plants. Plumbagin is a natural product present in plants such as Plumbago zeylanica L., Diospyros kaki, and D. anisandra, of which acaricidal activity has been reported. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate in vitro the acaricidal efficacy of plumbagin on larvae of R. microplus and R. sanguineus resistant to conventional acaricides. Larvae from engorged female ticks, collected from naturally infested dairy cattle and domiciled dogs, in Yucatan, Mexico, were used. The larval packet test and the larval immersion test were performed to detect acaricide susceptibility. Both tick populations were detected as resistant to cypermethrin and amitraz. Then, the modified larval immersion test was used and plumbagin was evaluated at concentrations of 1%, 0.5%, 0.25%, and 0.125% (%w/v), obtaining a mortality of 100% in the four concentrations for both tick species. Subsequently, lower doses of plumbagin were evaluated at concentrations of 0.0625%, 0.03125%, 0.015625% and 0.0078125%, obtaining mortalities of 100 to 36.26% for R. microplus and 100%-5.33% for R. sanguineus. Using Probit analysis, lethal concentrations at 50% (LC50), 99% (LC99) and confidence intervals at 95% (CI95%) were calculated. R. microplus showed a LC50 of 0.011% (CI95%: 0.010-0.011) and LC99 of 0.019% (CI95%: 0.018-0.022). R. sanguineus presented a LC50 of 0.017% (CI95%: 0.015-0.018) and CL99 of 0.031% (CI95%: 0.027-0.036). It was concluded that plumbagin has high acaricidal efficacy against larvae of R. microplus and R. sanguineus resistant to amitraz and cypermethrin. R. microplus larvae were significantly more susceptible to LC50 and LC99 compared to R. sanguineus. This is the first report on the acaricidal efficacy of plumbagin on larvae of R. microplus and R. sanguineus resistant to conventional acaricides.
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Affiliation(s)
- J R Gutiérrez-Wong
- Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Km15.5, Carretera Mérida-Xmatkuil, C.P. 97000, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico
| | - J A Rosado-Aguilar
- Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Km15.5, Carretera Mérida-Xmatkuil, C.P. 97000, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico.
| | - R I Rodríguez-Vivas
- Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Km15.5, Carretera Mérida-Xmatkuil, C.P. 97000, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico
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Pham M, Hoffmann HH, Kurtti TJ, Chana R, Garcia-Cruz O, Aliabadi S, Gulia-Nuss M. Validation of a heat-inducible Ixodes scapularis HSP70 promoter and developing a tick-specific 3xP3 promoter sequence in ISE6 cells. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.11.29.569248. [PMID: 38076872 PMCID: PMC10705397 DOI: 10.1101/2023.11.29.569248] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2023]
Abstract
Ixodes scapularis is an important vector of many pathogens, including the causative agent of Lyme disease, tick-borne encephalitis, and anaplasmosis. The study of gene function in I. scapularis and other ticks has been hampered by the lack of genetic tools, such as an inducible promoter to permit temporal control over transgenes encoding protein or double-stranded RNA expression. Studies of vector-pathogen relationships would also benefit from the capability to activate anti-pathogen genes at different times during pathogen infection and dissemination. We have characterized an intergenic sequence upstream of the heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) gene that can drive Renilla luciferase expression and mCherry fluorescence in the I. scapularis cell line ISE6. In another construct, we replaced the Drosophila melanogaster minimal HSP70 promoter in the synthetic 3xP3 promoter with a minimal portion of the I. scapularis HSP70 promoter and generated an I. scapularis specific 3xP3 (Is3xP3) promoter. Both promoter constructs, IsHSP70 and Is3xP3, allow for heat-inducible expression of mCherry fluorescence in ISE6 cells with an approximately 10-fold increase in the percentage of fluorescent positive cells upon exposure to a 2 h heat shock. These promoters described here will be valuable tools for gene function studies and temporal control of gene expression, including anti-pathogen genes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Pham
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, USA
| | | | | | - Randeep Chana
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, USA
| | - Omar Garcia-Cruz
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, USA
| | - Simindokht Aliabadi
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, USA
| | - Monika Gulia-Nuss
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, USA
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Rollins RE, Margos G, Brachmann A, Krebs S, Mouchet A, Dingemanse NJ, Laatamna A, Reghaissia N, Fingerle V, Metzler D, Becker NS, Chitimia-Dobler L. German Ixodes inopinatus samples may not actually represent this tick species. Int J Parasitol 2023; 53:751-761. [PMID: 37516335 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpara.2023.06.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2023] [Revised: 06/05/2023] [Accepted: 06/06/2023] [Indexed: 07/31/2023]
Abstract
Ticks are important vectors of human and animal pathogens, but many questions remain unanswered regarding their taxonomy. Molecular sequencing methods have allowed research to start understanding the evolutionary history of even closely related tick species. Ixodes inopinatus is considered a sister species and highly similar to Ixodes ricinus, an important vector of many tick-borne pathogens in Europe, but identification between these species remains ambiguous with disagreement on the geographic extent of I. inopinatus. In 2018-2019, 1583 ticks were collected from breeding great tits (Parus major) in southern Germany, of which 45 were later morphologically identified as I. inopinatus. We aimed to confirm morphological identification using molecular tools. Utilizing two genetic markers (16S rRNA, TROSPA) and whole genome sequencing of specific ticks (n = 8), we were able to determine that German samples, morphologically identified as I. inopinatus, genetically represent I. ricinus regardless of previous morphological identification, and most likely are not I. ricinus/I. inopinatus hybrids. Further, our results showed that the entire mitochondrial genome, let alone singular mitochondrial genes (i.e., 16S), is unable to distinguish between I. ricinus and I. inopinatus. Our results suggest that I. inopinatus is geographically isolated as a species (northern Africa and potentially southern Spain and Portugal) and brings into question whether I. inopinatus exists in central Europe. Our results highlight the probable existence of I. inopinatus and the power of utilizing genomic data in answering questions regarding tick taxonomy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert E Rollins
- Institute of Avian Research "Vogelwarte Helgoland", Wilhelmshaven, Germany.
| | - Gabriele Margos
- National Reference Center for Borrelia, Bayerisches Landesamt für Gesundheit und Lebensmittelsicherheit, Oberschleißheim, Germany
| | - Andreas Brachmann
- Genetics, Faculty of Biology, LMU Munich, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
| | - Stefan Krebs
- Gene Center, Laboratory for Functional Genome Analysis, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Alexia Mouchet
- Behavioural Ecology Group, LMU Munich/Department of Biology, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany; IDEEV UMR Evolution, Génomes, Comportement, Ecologie, IRD, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Niels J Dingemanse
- Behavioural Ecology Group, LMU Munich/Department of Biology, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
| | - AbdElkarim Laatamna
- Faculty of Nature and Life Sciences, University of Djelfa, Moudjbara Road, BP 3117, Djelfa, Algeria
| | - Nassiba Reghaissia
- Laboratory of Sciences and Living Techniques, Institute of Agronomic and Veterinary Sciences, University of Souk Ahras, Annaba Road 41000, Souk Ahras, Algeria
| | - Volker Fingerle
- National Reference Center for Borrelia, Bayerisches Landesamt für Gesundheit und Lebensmittelsicherheit, Oberschleißheim, Germany
| | - Dirk Metzler
- Division of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology, LMU Munich, Germany
| | - Noémie S Becker
- Division of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology, LMU Munich, Germany
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Guizzo MG, Mans B, Pienaar R, Ribeiro JMC. A comparison of Illumina and PacBio methods to build tick salivary gland transcriptomes confirms large expression of lipocalins and other salivary protein families that are not represented in available tick genomes. Ticks Tick Borne Dis 2023; 14:102209. [PMID: 37327738 PMCID: PMC10527494 DOI: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2023.102209] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2023] [Revised: 05/29/2023] [Accepted: 05/30/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Tick saliva helps blood feeding by its antihemostatic and immunomodulatory activities. Tick salivary gland transcriptomes (sialotranscriptomes) revealed thousands of transcripts coding for putative secreted polypeptides. Hundreds of these transcripts code for groups of similar proteins, constituting protein families, such as the lipocalins and metalloproteases. However, while many of these transcriptome-derived protein sequences matches sequences predicted by tick genome assemblies, the majority are not represented in these proteomes. The diversity of these transcriptome-derived transcripts could derive from artifacts generated during assembly of short Illumina reads or derive from polymorphisms of the genes coding for these proteins. To investigate this discrepancy, we collected salivary glands from blood-feeding ticks and, from the same homogenate, made and sequenced libraries following Illumina and PacBio protocols, with the assumption that the longer PacBio reads would reveal the sequences generated by the assembly of Illumina reads. Using both Rhipicephalus zambeziensis and Ixodes scapularis ticks, we have obtained more lipocalin transcripts from the Illumina library than the PacBio library. To verify whether these unique Illumina transcripts were real, we selected 9 uniquely Illumina-derived lipocalin transcripts from I. scapularis and attempted to obtain PCR products. These were obtained and their sequences confirmed the presence of these transcripts in the I. scapularis salivary homogenate. We further compared the predicted salivary lipocalins and metalloproteases from I. scapularis sialotranscriptomes with those found in the predicted proteomes of 3 publicly available genomes of I. scapularis. Results indicate that the discrepancy between the genome and transcriptome sequences for these salivary protein families is due to a high degree of polymorphism within these genes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melina Garcia Guizzo
- Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Rockville, MD, 20852, USA
| | - Ben Mans
- Epidemiology, Parasites and Vectors, Agricultural Research Council-Onderstepoort Veterinary Research, Onderstepoort, South Africa; The Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa; Department of Life and Consumer Sciences, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Ronel Pienaar
- Epidemiology, Parasites and Vectors, Agricultural Research Council-Onderstepoort Veterinary Research, Onderstepoort, South Africa
| | - Jose M C Ribeiro
- Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Rockville, MD, 20852, USA.
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Barnes M, Price DC. Endogenous Viral Elements in Ixodid Tick Genomes. Viruses 2023; 15:2201. [PMID: 38005880 PMCID: PMC10675110 DOI: 10.3390/v15112201] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2023] [Revised: 10/19/2023] [Accepted: 10/23/2023] [Indexed: 11/26/2023] Open
Abstract
The documentation of endogenous viral elements (EVEs; virus-derived genetic material integrated into the genome of a nonviral host) has offered insights into how arthropods respond to viral infection via RNA interference pathways. Small non-coding RNAs derived from EVE loci serve to direct RNAi pathways in limiting replication and infection from cognate viruses, thus benefiting the host's fitness and, potentially, vectorial capacity. Here we use informatic approaches to analyze nine available genome sequences of hard ticks (Acari: Ixodidae; Rhipicephalus sanguineus, R. microplus, R. annulatus, Ixodes ricinus, I. persulcatus, I. scapularis, Hyalomma asiaticum, Haemaphysalis longicornis, and Dermacentor silvarum) to identify endogenous viral elements and to illustrate the shared ancestry of all elements identified. Our results highlight a broad diversity of viral taxa as having given rise to 1234 identified EVEs in ticks, with Mononegavirales (specifically Rhabdoviridae) well-represented in this subset of hard ticks. Further investigation revealed extensive adintovirus integrations in several Ixodes species, the prevalence of Bunyavirales EVEs (notably not observed in mosquitoes), and the presence of several elements similar to known emerging human and veterinary pathogens. These results will inform subsequent work on current and past associations with tick species with regard to the viruses from which their "viral fossils" are derived and may serve as a reference for quality control of various tick-omics data that may suffer from misidentification of EVEs as viral genetic material.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Dana C. Price
- Center for Vector Biology, Department of Entomology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA;
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Maritz-Olivier C, Ferreira M, Olivier NA, Crafford J, Stutzer C. Mining gene expression data for rational identification of novel drug targets and vaccine candidates against the cattle tick, Rhipicephalus microplus. EXPERIMENTAL & APPLIED ACAROLOGY 2023; 91:291-317. [PMID: 37755526 PMCID: PMC10562289 DOI: 10.1007/s10493-023-00838-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2023] [Accepted: 09/09/2023] [Indexed: 09/28/2023]
Abstract
Control of complex parasites via vaccination remains challenging, with the current combination of vaccines and small drugs remaining the choice for an integrated control strategy. Studies conducted to date, are providing evidence that multicomponent vaccines will be needed for the development of protective vaccines against endo- and ectoparasites, though multicomponent vaccines require an in-depth understanding of parasite biology which remains insufficient for ticks. With the rapid development and spread of acaricide resistance in ticks, new targets for acaricide development also remains to be identified, along with novel targets that can be exploited for the design of lead compounds. In this study, we analysed the differential gene expression of Rhipicephalus microplus ticks that were fed on cattle vaccinated with a multi-component vaccine (Bm86 and 3 putative Bm86-binding proteins). The data was scrutinised for the identification of vaccine targets, small drug targets and novel pathways that can be evaluated in future studies. Limitations associated with targeting novel proteins for vaccine and/or drug design is also discussed and placed into the context of challenges arising when targeting large protein families and intracellular localised proteins. Lastly, this study provide insight into how Bm86-based vaccines may reduce successful uptake and digestion of the bloodmeal and overall tick fecundity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christine Maritz-Olivier
- Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa.
| | - Mariëtte Ferreira
- Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
| | - Nicholas A Olivier
- DNA Microarray Laboratory, Department of Plant Sciences, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
| | - Jan Crafford
- Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
| | - Christian Stutzer
- Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa.
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Hajdusek O, Kopacek P, Perner J. Experimental platforms for functional genomics in ticks. CURRENT OPINION IN INSECT SCIENCE 2023; 59:101102. [PMID: 37586557 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2023.101102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2023] [Revised: 08/08/2023] [Accepted: 08/10/2023] [Indexed: 08/18/2023]
Abstract
Ticks are blood-feeding ectoparasites that devastate cattle farming and are an omnipresent nuisance to pets and humans, posing a threat of pathogen transmission. Laboratory experimental models can be instrumental in the search for molecular targets of novel acaricides or vaccines. Mainly, though, the experimental models represent invaluable tools for broadening our basic understanding of key processes of tick blood-feeding physiology and vector competence. In order to understand the function of a single component within the full complexity of a feeding tick, genetic or biochemical interventions are used for systemic phenotypisation. In this work, we summarise current experimental modalities that represent powerful approaches for determining biological functions of tick molecular components.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ondrej Hajdusek
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Branisovska 31, 370 05 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
| | - Petr Kopacek
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Branisovska 31, 370 05 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
| | - Jan Perner
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Branisovska 31, 370 05 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic.
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34
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Sharma PP. The Impact of Whole Genome Duplication on the Evolution of the Arachnids. Integr Comp Biol 2023; 63:825-842. [PMID: 37263789 DOI: 10.1093/icb/icad050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2023] [Revised: 05/23/2023] [Accepted: 05/26/2023] [Indexed: 06/03/2023] Open
Abstract
The proliferation of genomic resources for Chelicerata in the past 10 years has revealed that the evolution of chelicerate genomes is more dynamic than previously thought, with multiple waves of ancient whole genome duplications affecting separate lineages. Such duplication events are fascinating from the perspective of evolutionary history because the burst of new gene copies associated with genome duplications facilitates the acquisition of new gene functions (neofunctionalization), which may in turn lead to morphological novelties and spur net diversification. While neofunctionalization has been invoked in several contexts with respect to the success and diversity of spiders, the overall impact of whole genome duplications on chelicerate evolution and development remains imperfectly understood. The purpose of this review is to examine critically the role of whole genome duplication on the diversification of the extant arachnid orders, as well as assess functional datasets for evidence of subfunctionalization or neofunctionalization in chelicerates. This examination focuses on functional data from two focal model taxa: the spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum, which exhibits evidence for an ancient duplication, and the harvestman Phalangium opilio, which exhibits an unduplicated genome. I show that there is no evidence that taxa with genome duplications are more successful than taxa with unduplicated genomes. I contend that evidence for sub- or neofunctionalization of duplicated developmental patterning genes in spiders is indirect or fragmentary at present, despite the appeal of this postulate for explaining the success of groups like spiders. Available expression data suggest that the condition of duplicated Hox modules may have played a role in promoting body plan disparity in the posterior tagma of some orders, such as spiders and scorpions, but functional data substantiating this postulate are critically missing. Spatiotemporal dynamics of duplicated transcription factors in spiders may represent cases of developmental system drift, rather than neofunctionalization. Developmental system drift may represent an important, but overlooked, null hypothesis for studies of paralogs in chelicerate developmental biology. To distinguish between subfunctionalization, neofunctionalization, and developmental system drift, concomitant establishment of comparative functional datasets from taxa exhibiting the genome duplication, as well as those that lack the paralogy, is sorely needed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Prashant P Sharma
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
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35
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Ajayi OM, Wynne NE, Chen SC, Vinauger C, Benoit JB. Sleep: An Essential and Understudied Process in the Biology of Blood-Feeding Arthropods. Integr Comp Biol 2023; 63:530-547. [PMID: 37429615 PMCID: PMC10503478 DOI: 10.1093/icb/icad097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2023] [Revised: 07/01/2023] [Accepted: 07/03/2023] [Indexed: 07/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Understanding the biology of blood-feeding arthropods is critical to managing them as vectors of etiological agents. Circadian rhythms act in the regulation of behavioral and physiological aspects such as blood feeding, immunity, and reproduction. However, the impact of sleep on these processes has been largely ignored in blood-feeding arthropods, but recent studies in mosquitoes show that sleep-like states directly impact host landing and blood feeding. Our focus in this review is on discussing the relationship between sleep and circadian rhythms in blood-feeding arthropods along with how unique aspects such as blood gluttony and dormancy can impact sleep-like states. We highlight that sleep-like states are likely to have profound impacts on vector-host interactions but will vary between lineages even though few direct studies have been conducted. A myriad of factors, such as artificial light, could directly impact the time and levels of sleep in blood-feeding arthropods and their roles as vectors. Lastly, we discuss underlying factors that make sleep studies in blood-feeding arthropods difficult and how these can be bypassed. As sleep is a critical factor in the fitness of animal systems, a lack of focus on sleep in blood-feeding arthropods represents a significant oversight in understanding their behavior and its role in pathogen transmission.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oluwaseun M Ajayi
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA
| | - Nicole E Wynne
- Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
| | - Shyh-Chi Chen
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA
| | - Clément Vinauger
- Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
| | - Joshua B Benoit
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA
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Liu Q, Xie B, Gao Y, Xu S, Lu Y. A protocol for applying low-coverage whole-genome sequencing data in structural variation studies. STAR Protoc 2023; 4:102433. [PMID: 37432854 PMCID: PMC10362160 DOI: 10.1016/j.xpro.2023.102433] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2023] [Revised: 05/23/2023] [Accepted: 06/12/2023] [Indexed: 07/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Structural variations (SVs) have a great impact on various biological processes and influence physical traits in many species. Here, we present a protocol for applying the low-coverage next-generation sequencing data of Rhipicephalus microplus to detect high-differentiated SVs accurately. We also outline its use to investigate population/species-specific genetic structures, local adaptation, and transcriptional function. We describe steps for constructing variation maps and SV annotation. We then detail population genetic analysis and differential gene expression analysis. For complete details on the usage and execution of this protocol, please refer to Liu et al. (2023).
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Affiliation(s)
- Qi Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Center for Evolutionary Biology, Human Phenome Institute, Zhangjiang Fudan International Innovation Center, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 201203, China
| | - Bo Xie
- Key Laboratory of Computational Biology, Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China
| | - Yang Gao
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Center for Evolutionary Biology, Human Phenome Institute, Zhangjiang Fudan International Innovation Center, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 201203, China; Key Laboratory of Computational Biology, Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China; School of Life Science and Technology, Shanghai Tech University, Shanghai 201210, China
| | - Shuhua Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Center for Evolutionary Biology, Human Phenome Institute, Zhangjiang Fudan International Innovation Center, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 201203, China; Key Laboratory of Computational Biology, Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China; School of Life Science and Technology, Shanghai Tech University, Shanghai 201210, China.
| | - Yan Lu
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Center for Evolutionary Biology, Human Phenome Institute, Zhangjiang Fudan International Innovation Center, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 201203, China.
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Aguilar-Díaz H, Quiroz-Castañeda RE, Díaz-Esquivel IG, Cossío-Bayúgar R, Miranda-Miranda E. A Novel Rhipicephalus microplus Estrogen Related Receptor (RmERR), a Molecular and In Silico Characterization of a Potential Protein Binding Estrogen. Microorganisms 2023; 11:2294. [PMID: 37764138 PMCID: PMC10536290 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms11092294] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2023] [Revised: 09/01/2023] [Accepted: 09/03/2023] [Indexed: 09/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The search for targets to control ticks and tick-borne diseases has been an ongoing problem, and so far, we still need efficient, non-chemical alternatives for this purpose. This search must consider new alternatives. For example genomics analysis is a widely applied tool in veterinary health studies to control pathogens. On the other hand, we propose that regulation of endocrine mechanisms represents a feasible alternative to biologically controlling tick infestations. Thus, we performed the molecular identification of an estrogen-related receptor gene of Rhipicephalus microplus called RmERR by RT-PCR in tick ovaries, embryonic cells, and hemolymph, which allowed us to analyze its expression and propose potential functions in endocrine mechanisms and developmental stages. In addition, we performed an in silico characterization to explore the molecular interactions of RmERR with different estrogens, estrogenic antagonists, and endocrine disruptor Bisphenol A (BPA), finding potential interactions predicted by docking analysis and supported by negative values of ΔG (which suggests the potential interaction of RmERR with the molecules evaluated). Additionally, phylogenetic reconstruction revealed that RmERR is grouped with other tick species but is phylogenetically distant from host vertebrates' ERRs. In summary, this study allowed for the identification of an ERR in cattle tick R. microplus for the first time and suggested its interaction with different estrogens, supporting the idea of a probable transregulation process in ticks. The elucidation of this interaction and its mechanisms unveiled its potential as a target to develop tick control strategies.
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38
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Vaughan AL, Parvizi E, Matheson P, McGaughran A, Dhami MK. Current stewardship practices in invasion biology limit the value and secondary use of genomic data. Mol Ecol Resour 2023. [PMID: 37647021 DOI: 10.1111/1755-0998.13858] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2023] [Revised: 07/09/2023] [Accepted: 08/14/2023] [Indexed: 09/01/2023]
Abstract
Invasive species threaten native biota, putting fragile ecosystems at risk and having a large-scale impact on primary industries. Growing trade networks and the popularity of personal travel make incursions a more frequent risk, one only compounded by global climate change. With increasing publication of whole-genome sequences lies an opportunity for cross-species assessment of invasive potential. However, the degree to which published sequences are accompanied by satisfactory spatiotemporal data is unclear. We assessed the metadata associated with 199 whole-genome assemblies of 89 invasive terrestrial invertebrate species and found that only 38% of these were derived from field-collected samples. Seventy-six assemblies (38%) reported an 'undescribed' sample origin and, while further examination of associated literature closed this gap to 23.6%, an absence of spatial data remained for 47 of the total assemblies. Of the 76 assemblies that were ultimately determined to be field-collected, associated metadata relevant for invasion studies was predominantly lacking: only 35% (27 assemblies) provided granular location data, and 33% (n = 25) lacked sufficient collection date information. Our results support recent calls for standardized metadata in genome sequencing data submissions, highlighting the impact of missing metadata on current research in invasion biology (and likely other fields). Notably, large-scale consortia tended to provide the most complete metadata submissions in our analysis-such cross-institutional collaborations can foster a culture of increased adherence to improved metadata submission standards and a standard of metadata stewardship that enables reuse of genomes in invasion science.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy L Vaughan
- Biocontrol & Molecular Ecology, Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, Lincoln, New Zealand
| | - Elahe Parvizi
- Te Aka Mātuatua/School of Science, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
| | - Paige Matheson
- Te Aka Mātuatua/School of Science, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
| | - Angela McGaughran
- Te Aka Mātuatua/School of Science, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
| | - Manpreet K Dhami
- Biocontrol & Molecular Ecology, Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, Lincoln, New Zealand
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Umemiya-Shirafuji R, Xuan X, Fujisaki K, Yamagishi J. Draft genome sequence data of Haemaphysalis longicornis Oita strain. Data Brief 2023; 49:109352. [PMID: 37600126 PMCID: PMC10439294 DOI: 10.1016/j.dib.2023.109352] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2023] [Revised: 05/30/2023] [Accepted: 06/21/2023] [Indexed: 08/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Haemaphysalis longicornis Neumann, 1901 is one of the most well-known hard ticks because of its medical and veterinary importance. Haemaphysalis longicornis transmit a wide range of pathogens among vertebrates, affecting humans and animals in Asia and Oceania. In Japan, the tick species is a major pest of cattle because it can spread a protozoan parasite Theileria orientalis, which causes theileriosis and produces economic losses to the livestock industry (Yokoyama et al. 2012 [1]). Apart from bovine theileriosis, H. longicornis is a vector of bovine babesiosis caused by Babesia ovata, canine babesiosis caused by Babesia gibsoni, and rickettsiosis and viral diseases in humans. Its habitats are mainly Japan, Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, the Fiji Islands, Korea, China, and Russia (Oliver et al. 1973 [2]). In the United States, heavy H. longicornis infestations on cattle and white-tailed deer were reported in 2019, making it now one of the tick species to be an increasing threat to livestock animals and humans globally. Ticks reproduce offspring after mating with female and male ticks, however, interestingly, there are two races of H. longicornis: bisexual (diploid) and parthenogenetic (triploid) races [2]. Parthenogenetic H. longicornis is distributed throughout Japan, while the northern limit of the bisexual race is believed to be Fukushima Prefecture on Honshu Island (Fujita et al. 2013 and Kitaoka et al. 1961 [3,4]). This tick species is also considered to be of great scientific importance, and the parthenogenetic race collected in Okayama prefecture has been reared since 1961, while the bisexual race collected in Oita prefecture has been reared since 2008 under laboratory conditions in Japan (Boldbaatar et al. 2010 and Fujisaki et al. 1976 [5,6]). Namely, the "Okayama strain" and "Oita strain" of H. longicornis have been maintained for more than six decades and 15 years, respectively, stably under laboratory conditions. To obtain reference data of bisexual H. longicornis, we sequenced unfed females with haploid genomes using Illumina and MinION Q20 kit then obtained a draft genome consisting of 2.48 Gbp. The number of the contig was 98,529 and N50 was 46.5 Kb. Genome information derived from our laboratory colony of bisexual H. longicornis ticks would provide fundamental insight into understanding how different reproductive lineages occur within the same species of the tick.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rika Umemiya-Shirafuji
- National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Hokkaido, 080-8555, Japan
| | - Xuenan Xuan
- National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Hokkaido, 080-8555, Japan
| | - Kozo Fujisaki
- National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Hokkaido, 080-8555, Japan
- National Agricultural and Food Research Organization, Kannondai 3-1-5, Ibaraki 305-0856, Japan
| | - Junya Yamagishi
- International Collaboration Unit, International Institute for Zoonosis Control, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 001-0020, Japan
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Omondi D, Zweygarth E, Murungi E, Jongejan F, Nijhof AM. De novo assembly and annotation of the Amblyomma hebraeum tick midgut transcriptome response to Ehrlichia ruminantium infection. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2023; 17:e0011554. [PMID: 37578991 PMCID: PMC10449191 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0011554] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2023] [Revised: 08/24/2023] [Accepted: 07/26/2023] [Indexed: 08/16/2023] Open
Abstract
The South African bont tick Amblyomma hebraeum is a hematophagous vector for the heartwater disease pathogen Ehrlichia ruminantium in southern Africa. During feeding, the tick's enterocytes express proteins that perform vital functions in blood digestion, including proteins that may be involved in E. ruminantium acquisition, colonization or immunity. To delineate the molecular mechanism of midgut response to E. ruminantium infection, we performed comparative analyses of midgut transcriptomes of E. ruminantium infected engorged A. hebraeum nymphs, and infected adult male and female ticks with their corresponding matched uninfected controls, before and during feeding. A total of 102,036 unigenes were annotated in public databases and their expression levels analyzed for engorged nymphs as well as unfed and partly-fed adult ticks. There were 2,025 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in midguts, of which 1,225 unigenes were up-regulated and 800 unigenes were down-regulated in the midguts of infected ticks. Annotation of DEGs revealed an increase in metabolic and cellular processes among E. ruminantium infected ticks. Notably, among the infected ticks, there was up-regulation in the expression of genes involved in tick immunity, histone proteins and oxidative stress responses. We also observed up-regulation of glycoproteins that E. ruminantium could potentially use as docking sites for host cell entry. Insights uncovered in this study offer a platform for further investigations into the molecular interaction between E. ruminantium and A. hebraeum.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Omondi
- Institute of Parasitology and Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Veterinary Centre for Resistance Research (TZR), Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Egerton University, Njoro, Kenya
| | - Erich Zweygarth
- Institute of Parasitology and Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Edwin Murungi
- Department of Medical Biochemistry, School of Health Sciences, Kisii University, Kisii, Kenya
| | - Frans Jongejan
- Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Ard M. Nijhof
- Institute of Parasitology and Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Veterinary Centre for Resistance Research (TZR), Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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De Rouck S, İnak E, Dermauw W, Van Leeuwen T. A review of the molecular mechanisms of acaricide resistance in mites and ticks. INSECT BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2023; 159:103981. [PMID: 37391089 DOI: 10.1016/j.ibmb.2023.103981] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2023] [Revised: 05/12/2023] [Accepted: 06/11/2023] [Indexed: 07/02/2023]
Abstract
The Arachnida subclass of Acari comprises many harmful pests that threaten agriculture as well as animal health, including herbivorous spider mites, the bee parasite Varroa, the poultry mite Dermanyssus and several species of ticks. Especially in agriculture, acaricides are often used intensively to minimize the damage they inflict, promoting the development of resistance. Beneficial predatory mites used in biological control are also subjected to acaricide selection in the field. The development and use of new genetic and genomic tools such as genome and transcriptome sequencing, bulked segregant analysis (QTL mapping), and reverse genetics via RNAi or CRISPR/Cas9, have greatly increased our understanding of the molecular genetic mechanisms of resistance in Acari, especially in the spider mite Tetranychus urticae which emerged as a model species. These new techniques allowed to uncover and validate new resistance mutations in a larger range of species. In addition, they provided an impetus to start elucidating more challenging questions on mechanisms of gene regulation of detoxification associated with resistance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sander De Rouck
- Laboratory of Agrozoology, Department of Plants and Crops, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Emre İnak
- Laboratory of Agrozoology, Department of Plants and Crops, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium; Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Ankara University, Dıskapı, 06110, Ankara, Turkiye
| | - Wannes Dermauw
- Laboratory of Agrozoology, Department of Plants and Crops, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium; Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO), Plant Sciences Unit, 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium
| | - Thomas Van Leeuwen
- Laboratory of Agrozoology, Department of Plants and Crops, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium.
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Cao ML, Nie Y, Fu YT, Li R, Yi XL, Xiong J, Liu GH. Characterization of the complete mitochondrial genomes of five hard ticks and phylogenetic implications. Parasitol Res 2023:10.1007/s00436-023-07891-7. [PMID: 37329345 DOI: 10.1007/s00436-023-07891-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2023] [Accepted: 05/27/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
Ticks are blood-sucking ectoparasites with significant medical and veterinary importance, capable of transmitting bacteria, protozoa, fungi, and viruses that cause a variety of human and animal diseases worldwide. In the present study, we sequenced the complete mitochondrial (mt) genomes of five hard tick species and analyzed features of their gene contents and genome organizations. The complete mt genomes of Haemaphysalis verticalis, H. flava, H. longicornis, Rhipicephalus sanguineus and Hyalomma asiaticum were 14855 bp, 14689 bp, 14693 bp, 14715 bp and 14722 bp in size, respectively. Their gene contents and arrangements are the same as those of most species of metastriate Ixodida, but distinct from species of genus Ixodes. Phylogenetic analyses using concatenated amino acid sequences of 13 protein-coding genes with two different computational algorithms (Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood) revealed the monophylies of the genera Rhipicephalus, Ixodes and Amblyomma, however, rejected the monophyly of the genus Haemaphysalis. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the complete mt genome of H. verticalis. These datasets provide useful mtDNA markers for further studies of the identification and classification of hard ticks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mei-Ling Cao
- Research Center for Parasites & Vectors, College of Veterinary Medicine, Hunan Agricultural University, Hunan, 410128, Changsha, China
| | - Yu Nie
- College of Biotechnology, Hunan University of Environment and Biology, Hengyang, 421001, Hunan, China
| | - Yi-Tian Fu
- Research Center for Parasites & Vectors, College of Veterinary Medicine, Hunan Agricultural University, Hunan, 410128, Changsha, China
| | - Rong Li
- Research Center for Parasites & Vectors, College of Veterinary Medicine, Hunan Agricultural University, Hunan, 410128, Changsha, China
| | - Xi-Long Yi
- Research Center for Parasites & Vectors, College of Veterinary Medicine, Hunan Agricultural University, Hunan, 410128, Changsha, China
| | - Jun Xiong
- Research Center for Parasites & Vectors, College of Veterinary Medicine, Hunan Agricultural University, Hunan, 410128, Changsha, China
| | - Guo-Hua Liu
- Research Center for Parasites & Vectors, College of Veterinary Medicine, Hunan Agricultural University, Hunan, 410128, Changsha, China.
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Hu G, Jiang F, Luo Q, Zong K, Dong L, Mei G, Du H, Dong H, Song Q, Song J, Xia Z, Gao C, Han J. Diversity Analysis of Tick-Borne Viruses from Hedgehogs and Hares in Qingdao, China. Microbiol Spectr 2023; 11:e0534022. [PMID: 37074196 PMCID: PMC10269667 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.05340-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2023] [Accepted: 03/12/2023] [Indexed: 04/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Tick-borne viruses (TBVs) have attracted increasingly global public health attention. In this study, the viral compositions of five tick species, Haemaphysalis flava, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, Dermacentor sinicus, Haemaphysalis longicornis, and Haemaphysalis campanulata, from hedgehogs and hares in Qingdao, China, were profiled via metagenomic sequencing. Thirty-six strains of 10 RNA viruses belonging to 4 viral families, including 3 viruses of Iflaviridae, 4 viruses of Phenuiviridae, 2 viruses of Nairoviridae, and 1 virus of Chuviridae, were identified in five tick species. Three novel viruses of two families, namely, Qingdao tick iflavirus (QDTIFV) of the family of Iflaviridae and Qingdao tick phlebovirus (QDTPV) and Qingdao tick uukuvirus (QDTUV) of the family of Phenuiviridae, were found in this study. This study shows that ticks from hares and hedgehogs in Qingdao harbored diverse viruses, including some that can cause emerging infectious diseases, such as Dabie bandavirus. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that these tick-borne viruses were genetically related to viral strains isolated previously in Japan. These findings shed new light on the cross-sea transmission of tick-borne viruses between China and Japan. IMPORTANCE Thirty-six strains of 10 RNA viruses belonging to 4 viral families, including 3 viruses of Iflaviridae, 4 viruses of Phenuiviridae, 2 viruses of Nairoviridae, and 1 virus of Chuviridae, were identified from five tick species in Qingdao, China. A diversity of tick-borne viruses from hares and hedgehogs in Qingdao was found in this study. Phylogenetic analysis showed that most of these TBVs were genetically related to Japanese strains. These findings indicate the possibility of the cross-sea transmission of TBVs between China and Japan.
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Affiliation(s)
- Geng Hu
- State Key Laboratory of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China
| | - Fachun Jiang
- Qingdao Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Qingdao Institute of Prevention Medicine, Qingdao, Shandong Province, China
| | - Qin Luo
- State Key Laboratory of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China
| | - Kexin Zong
- State Key Laboratory of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China
| | - Liyan Dong
- Qingdao Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Qingdao Institute of Prevention Medicine, Qingdao, Shandong Province, China
| | - Guoyong Mei
- State Key Laboratory of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China
| | - Haijun Du
- State Key Laboratory of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China
| | - Hongming Dong
- State Key Laboratory of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China
| | - Qinqin Song
- State Key Laboratory of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China
| | - Juan Song
- State Key Laboratory of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China
| | - Zhiqiang Xia
- State Key Laboratory of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China
| | - Chen Gao
- State Key Laboratory of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China
| | - Jun Han
- State Key Laboratory of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China
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Cao YY, Xiao SW, Yang F, Liu XY, Lu H, Zhang JC, Hu YH. Molecular characterization and immune efficacy of fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase from Haemaphysalis longicornis (Acari: Ixodidae). Parasit Vectors 2023; 16:169. [PMID: 37231514 DOI: 10.1186/s13071-023-05794-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2023] [Accepted: 05/02/2023] [Indexed: 05/27/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Ticks are obligate hematophagous ectoparasites that transmit a variety of pathogens to humans, wildlife and domestic animals. Vaccination is an effective and environmentally friendly method for tick control. Fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase (FBA) is an important glycometabolism enzyme that is a candidate vaccine against parasites. However, the immune protection of FBA in ticks is unclear. METHODS AND RESULTS: The 1092-bp open reading frame (ORF) of FBA from Haemaphysalis longicornis (HlFBA), encoding a 363-amino acid protein, was cloned using PCR methodology. The prokaryotic expression vector pET32a(+)-HlFBA was constructed and transformed into cells of Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) strain for protein expression. The recombinant HlFBA protein (rHlFBA) was purified by affinity chromatography, and the western blot results suggested that the rHlFBA protein was immunogenic. RESULTS Results of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay showed that rabbits immunized with rHlFBA produced a humoral immune response specific to rHlFBA. A tick infestation trial indicated that, compared to the ticks in the histidine-tagged thioredoxin (Trx) group, the engorged tick weight and oviposition of female ticks and egg hatching rate of those in the rHlFBA group was reduced by 22.6%, 45.6% and 24.1%, respectively. Based on the cumulative effect of the these three parameters, the overall immune efficacy of rHlFBA was estimated to be 68.4%. CONCLUSIONS FBA is a candidate anti-tick vaccine that can significantly reduce the engorged tick weight, oviposition, and egg hatching rate. The use of enzymes involved in glucose metabolism is a new strategy in the development of anti-tick vaccines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuan-Yuan Cao
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Hebei Key Laboratory of Animal Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Hebei Collaborative Innovation Center for Eco-Environment, College of Life Sciences, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, 050024, China
| | - Shu-Wen Xiao
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Hebei Key Laboratory of Animal Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Hebei Collaborative Innovation Center for Eco-Environment, College of Life Sciences, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, 050024, China
| | - Feng Yang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Hebei Key Laboratory of Animal Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Hebei Collaborative Innovation Center for Eco-Environment, College of Life Sciences, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, 050024, China
| | - Xiao-Ya Liu
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Hebei Key Laboratory of Animal Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Hebei Collaborative Innovation Center for Eco-Environment, College of Life Sciences, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, 050024, China
| | - Hui Lu
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Hebei Key Laboratory of Animal Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Hebei Collaborative Innovation Center for Eco-Environment, College of Life Sciences, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, 050024, China
| | - Jin-Cheng Zhang
- Shijiazhuang Post and Telecommunication Technical College, Shijiazhuang, 050021, China
| | - Yong-Hong Hu
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Hebei Key Laboratory of Animal Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Hebei Collaborative Innovation Center for Eco-Environment, College of Life Sciences, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, 050024, China.
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Gong Y, Li Y, Liu X, Ma Y, Jiang L. A review of the pangenome: how it affects our understanding of genomic variation, selection and breeding in domestic animals? J Anim Sci Biotechnol 2023; 14:73. [PMID: 37143156 PMCID: PMC10161434 DOI: 10.1186/s40104-023-00860-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2022] [Accepted: 03/01/2023] [Indexed: 05/06/2023] Open
Abstract
As large-scale genomic studies have progressed, it has been revealed that a single reference genome pattern cannot represent genetic diversity at the species level. While domestic animals tend to have complex routes of origin and migration, suggesting a possible omission of some population-specific sequences in the current reference genome. Conversely, the pangenome is a collection of all DNA sequences of a species that contains sequences shared by all individuals (core genome) and is also able to display sequence information unique to each individual (variable genome). The progress of pangenome research in humans, plants and domestic animals has proved that the missing genetic components and the identification of large structural variants (SVs) can be explored through pangenomic studies. Many individual specific sequences have been shown to be related to biological adaptability, phenotype and important economic traits. The maturity of technologies and methods such as third-generation sequencing, Telomere-to-telomere genomes, graphic genomes, and reference-free assembly will further promote the development of pangenome. In the future, pangenome combined with long-read data and multi-omics will help to resolve large SVs and their relationship with the main economic traits of interest in domesticated animals, providing better insights into animal domestication, evolution and breeding. In this review, we mainly discuss how pangenome analysis reveals genetic variations in domestic animals (sheep, cattle, pigs, chickens) and their impacts on phenotypes and how this can contribute to the understanding of species diversity. Additionally, we also go through potential issues and the future perspectives of pangenome research in livestock and poultry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ying Gong
- Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture, Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing, 100193, China
- National Germplasm Center of Domestic Animal Resources, Ministry of Technology, Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Yefang Li
- Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture, Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing, 100193, China
- National Germplasm Center of Domestic Animal Resources, Ministry of Technology, Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Xuexue Liu
- Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture, Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing, 100193, China
- National Germplasm Center of Domestic Animal Resources, Ministry of Technology, Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing, 100193, China
- Centre d'Anthropobiologie et de Génomique de Toulouse, Université Paul Sabatier, 37 allées Jules Guesde, Toulouse, 31000, France
| | - Yuehui Ma
- Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture, Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing, 100193, China.
- National Germplasm Center of Domestic Animal Resources, Ministry of Technology, Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing, 100193, China.
| | - Lin Jiang
- Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture, Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing, 100193, China.
- National Germplasm Center of Domestic Animal Resources, Ministry of Technology, Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing, 100193, China.
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Waldman J, Klafke GM, Tirloni L, Logullo C, da Silva Vaz I. Putative target sites in synganglion for novel ixodid tick control strategies. Ticks Tick Borne Dis 2023; 14:102123. [PMID: 36716581 PMCID: PMC10033424 DOI: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2023.102123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2022] [Revised: 12/23/2022] [Accepted: 01/07/2023] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Acaricide resistance is a global problem that has impacts worldwide. Tick populations with broad resistance to all commercially available acaricides have been reported. Since resistance selection in ticks and their role in pathogen transmission to animals and humans result in important economic and public health burden, it is essential to develop new strategies for their control (i.e., novel chemical compounds, vaccines, biological control). The synganglion is the tick central nervous system and it is responsible for synthesizing and releasing signaling molecules with different physiological functions. Synganglion proteins are the targets of the majority of available acaricides. In this review we provide an overview of the mode-of-action and resistance mechanisms against neurotoxic acaricides in ticks, as well as putative target sites in synganglion, as a supporting tool to identify new target proteins and to develop new strategies for tick control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jéssica Waldman
- Centro de Biotecnologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
| | - Guilherme Marcondes Klafke
- Instituto de Pesquisas Veterinárias Desidério Finamor - Centro de Pesquisa em Saúde Animal, Secretaria da Agricultura, Pecuária e Desenvolvimento Rural, Eldorado do Sul, RS, Brazil; Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia - Entomologia Molecular, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Lucas Tirloni
- Laboratory of Bacteriology, Tick-Pathogen Transmission Unit, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Hamilton, MT, USA
| | - Carlos Logullo
- Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia - Entomologia Molecular, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil; Laboratório de Bioquímica de Artrópodes Hematófagos, IBqM, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Itabajara da Silva Vaz
- Centro de Biotecnologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil; Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia - Entomologia Molecular, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil; Faculdade de Veterinária, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
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Sun J, Liu H, Yao XY, Zhang YQ, Lv ZH, Shao JW. Circulation of four species of Anaplasmataceae bacteria in ticks in Harbin, northeastern China. Ticks Tick Borne Dis 2023; 14:102136. [PMID: 36736131 DOI: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2023.102136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2022] [Revised: 01/22/2023] [Accepted: 01/25/2023] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Ticks play an important role in the evolution and transmission of Anaplasmataceae bacteria which are agents of emerging infectious diseases. In this study, a total of 1286 adult ticks belonging to five species were collected from cattle, goats, horses and vegetation in Harbin area, Heilongjiang province, northeastern China. The tick-borne Anaplasmataceae bacteria were identified by amplifying and sequencing the 16S rRNA (rrs) and heat shock protein-60 encoding (groEL) genes. The results showed that Ixodes persulcatus was dominant (38.8%, 499/1283) among the five tick species, and Anaplasmataceae bacteria were detected in all tick species with an overall prevalence of 7.4%. Four species of Anaplasmataceae bacteria (Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Anaplasma ovis, Anaplasma bovis, and "Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis"), which are pathogenic to humans and/or animals, were identified from tick samples by phylogenetic analyzes of the rrs and groEL gene sequences. Interestingly, the cluster 1 strains were first identified in Asian, and a novel cluster was also detected in this study. These data revealed the genetic diversity of Anaplasmataceae bacteria circulating in ticks in Harbin area, highlighting the need to investigate these tick-borne pathogens and their risks to human and animal health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing Sun
- School of Life Science and Engineering, Foshan University, Foshan, Guangdong Province, China
| | - Hong Liu
- School of Life Science and Engineering, Foshan University, Foshan, Guangdong Province, China
| | - Xin-Yan Yao
- School of Life Science and Engineering, Foshan University, Foshan, Guangdong Province, China
| | - Yu-Qian Zhang
- School of Life Science and Engineering, Foshan University, Foshan, Guangdong Province, China
| | - Zhi-Hang Lv
- School of Life Science and Engineering, Foshan University, Foshan, Guangdong Province, China
| | - Jian-Wei Shao
- School of Life Science and Engineering, Foshan University, Foshan, Guangdong Province, China.
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Mans BJ. Paradigms in tick evolution. Trends Parasitol 2023; 39:475-486. [PMID: 37061441 DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2023.03.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2023] [Revised: 03/14/2023] [Accepted: 03/14/2023] [Indexed: 04/17/2023]
Abstract
The study of tick evolution may be classified into disciplines such as taxonomy and systematics, biogeography, evolution and development (evo-devo), ecology, and hematophagy. These disciplines overlap and impact each other to various extents. Advances in one field may lead to paradigm shifts in our understanding of tick evolution not apparent to other fields. The current study considers paradigm shifts that occurred, are in the process, or may occur in future for the disciplines that study tick evolution. Some disciplines have undergone significant changes, while others may still be developing their own paradigms. Integration of these various disciplines is essential to come to a holistic view of tick evolution; however, maturation of paradigms may be necessary before this vision can be attained.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ben J Mans
- Epidemiology, Parasites and Vectors, Agricultural Research Council-Onderstepoort Veterinary Research, Onderstepoort, South Africa; Department of Life and Consumer Sciences, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa.
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Zhu B, Jin P, Zhang Y, Shen Y, Wang W, Li S. Genomic and transcriptomic analyses support a silk gland origin of spider venom glands. BMC Biol 2023; 21:82. [PMID: 37055766 PMCID: PMC10099834 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-023-01581-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2023] [Accepted: 03/29/2023] [Indexed: 04/15/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Spiders comprise a hyperdiverse lineage of predators with venom systems, yet the origin of functionally novel spider venom glands remains unclear. Previous studies have hypothesized that spider venom glands originated from salivary glands or evolved from silk-producing glands present in early chelicerates. However, there is insufficient molecular evidence to indicate similarity among them. Here, we provide comparative analyses of genome and transcriptome data from various lineages of spiders and other arthropods to advance our understanding of spider venom gland evolution. RESULTS We generated a chromosome-level genome assembly of a model spider species, the common house spider (Parasteatoda tepidariorum). Module preservation, GO semantic similarity, and differentially upregulated gene similarity analyses demonstrated a lower similarity in gene expressions between the venom glands and salivary glands compared to the silk glands, which questions the validity of the salivary gland origin hypothesis but unexpectedly prefers to support the ancestral silk gland origin hypothesis. The conserved core network in the venom and silk glands was mainly correlated with transcription regulation, protein modification, transport, and signal transduction pathways. At the genetic level, we found that many genes in the venom gland-specific transcription modules show positive selection and upregulated expressions, suggesting that genetic variation plays an important role in the evolution of venom glands. CONCLUSIONS This research implies the unique origin and evolutionary path of spider venom glands and provides a basis for understanding the diverse molecular characteristics of venom systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bingyue Zhu
- Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 101408, China
| | - Pengyu Jin
- Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
| | - Yiming Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 101408, China
| | - Yunxiao Shen
- Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 101408, China
| | - Wei Wang
- Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
- Key Laboratory of Ecology and Environmental Protection of Rare and Endangered Animals and Plants, Ministry of Education, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, 541004, China
| | - Shuqiang Li
- Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
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Ma H, Galon EM, Lao Y, Kang M, Xuan X, Li J, Sun Y. De novo assembled transcriptomics assisted label-free quantitative proteomics analysis reveals sex-specific proteins in the intestinal tissue of Haemaphysalis qinghaiensis. INFECTION, GENETICS AND EVOLUTION : JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR EPIDEMIOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY GENETICS IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES 2023; 109:105409. [PMID: 36773671 DOI: 10.1016/j.meegid.2023.105409] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2022] [Revised: 12/14/2022] [Accepted: 02/07/2023] [Indexed: 02/12/2023]
Abstract
The hard tick Haemaphysalis qinghaiensis is the vector of a wide variety of infectious agents, such as spirochetes and other bacteria as well as viruses in the western plateau of China. Tick midgut is the key tissue involved in the host-pathogen-vector interface. Multiple midgut proteins are related to key functions in blood digestion, tick survival, and tick-borne pathogen transmission. However, information on the sex-specific proteins expressed in the midgut tissue of H. qinghaiensis for which the genome has not been sequenced is limited. Hence, we assembled and characterized the transcriptome of the H. qinghaiensis midgut and identified the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in female and male ticks. The sequencing of the mRNA for this nonmodel species is essential for producing a protein database for mass spectrometry-based identification. Here, we combined high-throughput parallel sequencing and label-free quantitative proteomics analysis to extensively characterize the tick midgut using massive RNA sequencing and mass spectrometry, which allowed the detection of genes and proteins. A total of 279,186 transcripts were annotated into 125,790 coding sequences (CDSs), which were manually curated into 96 different gene families. A total of 12,837 DEGs between the two sexes were found by RNA-seq analysis. Of these, 5401 were upregulated genes, while 7436 were downregulated genes. The most common molecular functions were those related to the endocrine system, translation, signal transduction, transport, and catabolism. Meanwhile, the most common biological processes were related to cellular processes, metabolic processes, cellular anatomical entities, and cargo receptor activities. An analysis of the label-free protein quantitation dataset showed 272 upregulated proteins and 46 downregulated proteins when the fold-change was >2.0 (LC-MS/MS). Association analysis of the transcriptome and proteome with GO functional enrichment showed that the majority of the genes (proteins) were those related to catalytic activity, binding, cellular processes, metabolic processes, and responses to stimuli. This study aims to elucidate the digestive physiology of H. qinghaiensis as well as its physiological sexual dimorphism. This will allow the identification of protein candidates with physiological importance that could be used as targets to control the vector as well as the transmission of tick-borne pathogens to humans and animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hejia Ma
- State Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, PR China; College of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, PR China
| | - Eloiza May Galon
- National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro 0808555, Hokkaido, Japan
| | - Yanjun Lao
- State Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, PR China; College of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, PR China
| | - Ming Kang
- State Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, PR China; College of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, PR China; Qinghai Provincial Key Laboratory of Pathogen Diagnosis for Animal Diseases and Green Technical Research for Prevention and Control, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, PR China
| | - Xuenan Xuan
- National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro 0808555, Hokkaido, Japan
| | - Jixu Li
- State Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, PR China; College of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, PR China; Qinghai Provincial Key Laboratory of Pathogen Diagnosis for Animal Diseases and Green Technical Research for Prevention and Control, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, PR China
| | - Yali Sun
- State Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, PR China; College of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, PR China; Qinghai Provincial Key Laboratory of Pathogen Diagnosis for Animal Diseases and Green Technical Research for Prevention and Control, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, PR China.
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