1
|
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.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yuting Lin
- MRC Biostatistics UnitUniversity of CambridgeCambridgeUK
- Royal Veterinary CollegeUniversity of LondonLondonUK
| | | |
Collapse
|
2
|
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.
Collapse
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.
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Gebremedhin MB, Xu Z, Kuang C, Shumuye NA, Cao J, Zhou Y, Zhang H, Zhou J. Current Knowledge on Chemosensory-Related Candidate Molecules Potentially Involved in Tick Olfaction via Haller's Organ. INSECTS 2023; 14:294. [PMID: 36975979 PMCID: PMC10053194 DOI: 10.3390/insects14030294] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2022] [Revised: 03/11/2023] [Accepted: 03/17/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Ticks are obligatory hematophagous ectoparasites and vectors of many animal and human pathogens. Chemosensation plays a significant role in tick communication with their environment, including seeking out blood meal hosts. Studies on the structure and function of Haller's organ and its components have improved our understanding regarding tick olfaction and its chemical ecology. Compared with the knowledge on insect olfaction, less is known about the molecular basis of olfaction in ticks. This review focused on the chemosensory-related candidate molecules likely involved in tick olfaction. Members of the ionotropic receptor family and a new class of odorant-binding proteins are now known to be involved in tick olfaction, which appear to differ from that of insects. These candidate molecules are more closely related to those of mites and spiders than to other arthropods. The amino acid sequences of candidate niemann-pick type C2 and microplusin-like proteins in ticks exhibit features indicating their potential role as binding proteins. In the future, more comprehensive pertinent research considering the existing shortcomings will be required to fully understand the molecular basis of tick olfactory chemoreception. This information may contribute to the development of new molecular-based control mechanisms to reduce tick populations and related disease transmission.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mebrahtu Berhe Gebremedhin
- Key Laboratory of Animal Parasitology of Ministry of Agriculture, Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai 200241, China
| | - Zhengmao Xu
- Key Laboratory of Animal Parasitology of Ministry of Agriculture, Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai 200241, China
| | - Ceyan Kuang
- Key Laboratory of Animal Parasitology of Ministry of Agriculture, Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai 200241, China
| | - Nigus Abebe Shumuye
- State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, National Animal Echinococcosis Para-Reference Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730046, China
| | - Jie Cao
- Key Laboratory of Animal Parasitology of Ministry of Agriculture, Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai 200241, China
| | - Yongzhi Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Animal Parasitology of Ministry of Agriculture, Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai 200241, China
| | - Houshuang Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Animal Parasitology of Ministry of Agriculture, Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai 200241, China
| | - Jinlin Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Animal Parasitology of Ministry of Agriculture, Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai 200241, China
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
The Peptide Hormone CNMa Influences Egg Production in the Mosquito Aedes aegypti. INSECTS 2022; 13:insects13030230. [PMID: 35323527 PMCID: PMC8955854 DOI: 10.3390/insects13030230] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2022] [Revised: 02/16/2022] [Accepted: 02/23/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
Mosquito reproduction is regulated by a suite of hormones, many acting through membrane-bound receptor proteins. The Aedes aegypti G protein-coupled receptors AAEL024199 (AeCNMaR-1a) and AAEL018316 (AeCNMaR-1b) were identified as orthologs of the Drosophila melanogaster CNMa receptor (DmCNMaR). The receptor was duplicated early in the evolution of insects, and subsequently in Culicidae, into what we refer to as CNMaR-1a and CNMaR-1b. AeCNMaR-1a is only detected in male mosquito antennae while AeCNMaR-1b is expressed at high levels in mosquito ovaries. Using a heterologous cell assay, we determined that AeCNMa activates AeCNMaR-1a with a ~10-fold lower concentration than it does AeCNMaR-1b, though both receptors displayed half maximal effective concentrations of AeCNMa in the low nanomolar range. Finally, we show that injections of AeCNMa into blood-fed mated female Ae. aegypti resulted in fewer eggs laid.
Collapse
|
5
|
Liu N, Li T, Wang Y, Liu S. G-Protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs) in Insects-A Potential Target for New Insecticide Development. Molecules 2021; 26:2993. [PMID: 34069969 PMCID: PMC8157829 DOI: 10.3390/molecules26102993] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2021] [Revised: 05/10/2021] [Accepted: 05/12/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) play important roles in cell biology and insects' physiological processes, toxicological response and the development of insecticide resistance. New information on genome sequences, proteomic and transcriptome analysis and expression patterns of GPCRs in organs such as the central nervous system in different organisms has shown the importance of these signaling regulatory GPCRs and their impact on vital cell functions. Our growing understanding of the role played by GPCRs at the cellular, genome, transcriptome and tissue levels is now being utilized to develop new targets that will sidestep many of the problems currently hindering human disease control and insect pest management. This article reviews recent work on the expression and function of GPCRs in insects, focusing on the molecular complexes governing the insect physiology and development of insecticide resistance and examining the genome information for GPCRs in two medically important insects, mosquitoes and house flies, and their orthologs in the model insect species Drosophila melanogaster. The tissue specific distribution and expression of the insect GPCRs is discussed, along with fresh insights into practical aspects of insect physiology and toxicology that could be fundamental for efforts to develop new, more effective, strategies for pest control and resistance management.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nannan Liu
- Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA; (T.L.); (Y.W.)
| | - Ting Li
- Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA; (T.L.); (Y.W.)
| | - Yifan Wang
- Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA; (T.L.); (Y.W.)
| | - Shikai Liu
- College of Fisheries, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China;
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Bekhouche S, Mohamed Ben Ali Y. Feature Selection in GPCR Classification Using BAT Algorithm. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COMPUTATIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND APPLICATIONS 2020. [DOI: 10.1142/s1469026820500066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
G-Protein-Coupled Receptors (GPCR) are the large family of protein membrane; and until now some of them still remain orphans. Predicting GPCR functions is a challenging task, it depends closely to their classification, which requires a digital representation of each protein chain as an attribute vector. A major problem of GPCR databases is their great number of features which can produce combinatorial explosion and increase the complexity of classification algorithms. Feature selection techniques are used to deal with this problem by minimizing features space dimension, and keeping the most relevant ones. In this paper, we propose to use the BAT algorithm for extracting the pertinent features and to improve the classification results. We compared the results obtained by our system with two other bio-inspired algorithms, Evolutionary Algorithm and PSO search. Metrics quality measures used for comparison are Error Rate, Accuracy, MCC and [Formula: see text]-measure. Experimental results indicate that our system is more efficient.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Safia Bekhouche
- Department of Computer Science, Badji Mokhtar University, Annaba 23000, Algeria
| | - Yamina Mohamed Ben Ali
- Lboratory of Research in Informatics (LRI), Badji Mokhtar University, Annaba 23000, Algeria
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Begum K, Mohl JE, Ayivor F, Perez EE, Leung MY. GPCR-PEnDB: a database of protein sequences and derived features to facilitate prediction and classification of G protein-coupled receptors. DATABASE-THE JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL DATABASES AND CURATION 2020; 2020:5995841. [PMID: 33216895 PMCID: PMC7678784 DOI: 10.1093/database/baaa087] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2020] [Revised: 08/26/2020] [Accepted: 09/10/2020] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
Abstract
G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) constitute the largest group of membrane receptor proteins in eukaryotes. Due to their significant roles in various physiological processes such as vision, smell and inflammation, GPCRs are the targets of many prescription drugs. However, the functional and sequence diversity of GPCRs has kept their prediction and classification based on amino acid sequence data as a challenging bioinformatics problem. There are existing computational approaches, mainly using machine learning and statistical methods, to predict and classify GPCRs based on amino acid sequence and sequence derived features. In this paper, we describe a searchable MySQL database, named GPCR-PEnDB (GPCR Prediction Ensemble Database), of confirmed GPCRs and non-GPCRs. It was constructed with the goal of allowing users to conveniently access useful information of GPCRs in a wide range of organisms and to compile reliable training and testing datasets for different combinations of computational tools. This database currently contains 3129 confirmed GPCR and 3575 non-GPCR sequences collected from the UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot protein database, encompassing over 1200 species. The non-GPCR entries include transmembrane proteins for evaluating various prediction programs' abilities to distinguish GPCRs from other transmembrane proteins. Each protein is linked to information about its source organism, classification, sequence lengths and composition, and other derived sequence features. We present examples of using this database along with its graphical user interface, to query for GPCRs with specific sequence properties and to compare the accuracies of five tools for GPCR prediction. This initial version of GPCR-PEnDB will provide a framework for future extensions to include additional sequence and feature data to facilitate the design and assessment of software tools and experimental studies to help understand the functional roles of GPCRs. Database URL: gpcr.utep.edu/database.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Khodeza Begum
- Computational Science Program, The University of Texas at El Paso, 500 West University Avenue, El Paso, Texas 79968, USA.,Border Biomedical Research Center, The University of Texas at El Paso, 500 West University Avenue, El Paso, Texas 79968, USA
| | - Jonathon E Mohl
- Border Biomedical Research Center, The University of Texas at El Paso, 500 West University Avenue, El Paso, Texas 79968, USA.,Bioinformatics Program, The University of Texas at El Paso, 500 West University Avenue, El Paso, Texas 79968, USA and.,Department of Mathematical Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, 500 West University Avenue, El Paso, Texas 79968, USA
| | - Fredrick Ayivor
- Computational Science Program, The University of Texas at El Paso, 500 West University Avenue, El Paso, Texas 79968, USA
| | - Eder E Perez
- Department of Mathematical Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, 500 West University Avenue, El Paso, Texas 79968, USA
| | - Ming-Ying Leung
- Computational Science Program, The University of Texas at El Paso, 500 West University Avenue, El Paso, Texas 79968, USA.,Border Biomedical Research Center, The University of Texas at El Paso, 500 West University Avenue, El Paso, Texas 79968, USA.,Bioinformatics Program, The University of Texas at El Paso, 500 West University Avenue, El Paso, Texas 79968, USA and.,Department of Mathematical Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, 500 West University Avenue, El Paso, Texas 79968, USA
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Pietrantonio PV, Xiong C, Nachman RJ, Shen Y. G protein-coupled receptors in arthropod vectors: omics and pharmacological approaches to elucidate ligand-receptor interactions and novel organismal functions. CURRENT OPINION IN INSECT SCIENCE 2018; 29:12-20. [PMID: 30551818 PMCID: PMC6296246 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2018.05.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2018] [Revised: 05/21/2018] [Accepted: 05/23/2018] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
Regulation of many physiological processes in animals, certainly those controlled by neuropeptide hormones, involves G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Our work focusing on endocrine regulation of diuresis and water balance in mosquitoes and ticks started in 1997 with the kinin receptor, at the dawn of the omics era. After the genomic revolution, we began work on the endocrinology of reproduction in the red imported fire ant. We will use the template of this comparative work to summarize key points about GPCRs and signaling, and emphasize the most recent developments in the pharmacology of arthropod neuropeptide GPCRs. We will discuss omics' contributions to the advancement of this field, and its influence on peptidomimetic design while emphasizing work on blood feeding arthropods.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Patricia V Pietrantonio
- Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University (TAMU), College Station, TX 77843-2475, United States.
| | - Caixing Xiong
- Department of Entomology, TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-2475, United States
| | - Ronald James Nachman
- Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center, USDA-ARS, College Station, TX 77845, United States
| | - Yang Shen
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-3128, United States
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Tick Haller's Organ, a New Paradigm for Arthropod Olfaction: How Ticks Differ from Insects. Int J Mol Sci 2017; 18:ijms18071563. [PMID: 28718821 PMCID: PMC5536051 DOI: 10.3390/ijms18071563] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2017] [Revised: 07/13/2017] [Accepted: 07/14/2017] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Ticks are the vector of many human and animal diseases; and host detection is critical to this process. Ticks have a unique sensory structure located exclusively on the 1st pairs of legs; the fore-tarsal Haller’s organ, not found in any other animals, presumed to function like the insect antennae in chemosensation but morphologically very different. The mechanism of tick chemoreception is unknown. Utilizing next-generation sequencing and comparative transcriptomics between the 1st and 4th legs (the latter without the Haller’s organ), we characterized 1st leg specific and putative Haller’s organ specific transcripts from adult American dog ticks, Dermacentor variabilis. The analysis suggested that the Haller’s organ is involved in olfaction, not gustation. No known odorant binding proteins like those found in insects, chemosensory lipocalins or typical insect olfactory mechanisms were identified; with the transcriptomic data only supporting a possible olfactory G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) signal cascade unique to the Haller’s organ. Each component of the olfactory GPCR signal cascade was identified and characterized. The expression of GPCR, Gαo and β-arrestin transcripts identified exclusively in the 1st leg transcriptome, and putatively Haller’s organ specific, were examined in unfed and blood-fed adult female and male D. variabilis. Blood feeding to repletion in adult females down-regulated the expression of all three chemosensory transcripts in females but not in males; consistent with differences in post-feeding tick behavior between sexes and an expected reduced chemosensory function in females as they leave the host. Data are presented for the first time of the potential hormonal regulation of tick chemosensation; behavioral assays confirmed the role of the Haller’s organ in N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide (DEET) repellency but showed no role for the Haller’s organ in host attachment. Further research is needed to understand the potential role of the GPCR cascade in olfaction.
Collapse
|