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Molecular characterization and tissue-specific gene expression of Dermacentor variabilis ?-catenin in response to rickettsial infection.

ABSTRACT: Alpha catenin is a cytoskeleton protein that acts as a regulator of actin rearrangement by forming an E-cadherin adhesion complex. In Dermacentor variabilis, a putative ?-catenin (Dv?-catenin) was previously identified as differentially regulated in ovaries of ticks chronically infected with Rickettsia montanensis. To begin characterizing the role(s) of Dv?-catenin during rickettsial infection, the full-length Dv?-catenin cDNA was cloned and analysed. Comparative sequence analysis demonstrates a 3069-bp cDNA with a 2718-bp open reading frame with a sequence similar to Ixodes scapularis?-catenin. A portion of Dv?-catenin is homologous to the vinculin-conserved domain containing a putative actin-binding region and ?-catenin-binding and -dimerization regions. Quantitative reverse-transcription PCR analysis demonstrated that Dv?-catenin is predominantly expressed in tick ovaries and is responsive to tick feeding. The tissue-specific gene expression analysis of ticks exposed to Rickettsia demonstrates that Dv?-catenin expression was significantly downregulated 12 h after exposure to R. montanensis, but not in Rickettsia amblyommii-exposed ovaries, compared with Rickettsia-unexposed ticks. Studying tick-derived molecules associated with rickettsial infection will provide a better understanding of the transmission dynamics of tick-borne rickettsial diseases.

SUBMITTER: Sunyakumthorn P

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3299920 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Molecular characterization and tissue-specific gene expression of Dermacentor variabilis α-catenin in response to rickettsial infection.

Sunyakumthorn P P Petchampai N N Kearney M T MT Sonenshine D E DE Macaluso Kevin R KR

Insect molecular biology 20120106 2

Alpha catenin is a cytoskeleton protein that acts as a regulator of actin rearrangement by forming an E-cadherin adhesion complex. In Dermacentor variabilis, a putative α-catenin (Dvα-catenin) was previously identified as differentially regulated in ovaries of ticks chronically infected with Rickettsia montanensis. To begin characterizing the role(s) of Dvα-catenin during rickettsial infection, the full-length Dvα-catenin cDNA was cloned and analysed. Comparative sequence analysis demonstrates a ...[more]

PMID: 22221256

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Project description:Ticks continue to be a threat to animal and human health, and new and novel control strategies are needed for ticks and tick-borne pathogens. The characterization of the tick-pathogen interface and the tick immune response to microbial infections is fundamental toward the formulation of new control strategies for ticks and the pathogens they transmit. Our overall hypothesis for this research is that the tick immune system manages the maintenance of pathogens. Therefore, discovery of tick immune response genes may provide targets for novel control strategies directed toward reducing vector competency and pathogen transmission. In these studies, 454 pyrosequencing, a high-throughput genomic sequencing method was used to discover tick genes expressed in response to bacterial and fungal infections. Expressed sequence tags (ESTs) were analysed from Dermacentor variabilis ticks that had been injected with bacteria (Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Micrococcus luteus) or fungi (Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida albicans) and ticks that were naturally infected with the intracellular bacterium, Anaplasma marginale. By this approach, ESTs were assembled into 5995 contigs. Contigs fell into the five main functional categories of metabolism, genetic information processing, environmental information processing, cellular processes and human diseases. We identified more than 30 genes that are likely to encode for proteins involved in tick immune function. We further analysed by reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) the expression of 22 of these genes in each of our bacterial or fungal treatment groups and found that seven were up-regulated. Up-regulation of these seven genes was confirmed for bacterial, but not fungal treatment by quantitative PCR (qPCR). One of these products was novel, encoding a new tick defensin. Our results clearly demonstrate the complexities of the tick immune system and mark new directions for further study and characterization of proteins that modulate microbial infections in the American dog tick.

Dataset Information

Molecular characterization and tissue-specific gene expression of Dermacentor variabilis ?-catenin in response to rickettsial infection.

Publications

Molecular characterization and tissue-specific gene expression of Dermacentor variabilis α-catenin in response to rickettsial infection.

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