Triatominae, ticks and assassin bugs
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ABSTRACT:
PROVIDER: PRJNA898622 | ENA |
REPOSITORIES: ENA
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Project description:Assassin bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae) are venomous insects that prey on invertebrates. Assassin bug venom has features in common with venoms from other animals, such as paralysing and lethal activity when injected, and a molecular composition that includes disulfide-rich peptide neurotoxins. Uniquely, this venom also has strong liquefying activity that has been hypothesised to facilitate feeding through the narrow channel of the proboscis—a structure inherited from sap- and phloem-feeding phytophagous hemipterans and adapted during the evolution of Heteroptera into a fang and feeding structure. However, further understanding of the function of assassin bug venom is impeded by the lack of proteomic studies detailing its molecular composition. In addition, the lack of knowledge regarding venoms of predaceous reduviids limits our understanding of how the venoms of the blood-feeding kissing bugs (Reduviidae: Triatominae) evolved to facilitate hematophagy. By using a combined transcriptomic/proteomic approach we show that the venom proteome of the harpactorine assassin bug Pristhesancus plagipennis includes a complex suite of >100 proteins comprising disulfide-rich peptides, CUB-domain proteins, cystatins, putative cytolytic toxins, triabin-like protein, odorant binding protein, serine proteases, catabolic enzymes, putative nutrient-binding proteins, plus eight families of proteins without homology to characterised proteins. Serine proteases, CUB domain proteins and other novel proteins in the 10–16 kDa mass range, as well as putative cytolytic toxins, were the most abundant venom components. Thus, in addition to putative neurotoxins, assassin bug venom includes a high proportion of enzymatic and cytolytic venom components well suited to tissue liquefaction. While some protein families such as lipocalin/triabins occur in the venoms of both predaceous and blood-feeding reduviids, the composition of venoms in these two groups differs markedly. These results provide insights into the venom evolution in the insect suborder Heteroptera.
2017-11-14 | PXD004804 | Pride
Project description:To characterize the differentially expressed genes between fully engorged ticks and partially engorged ticks
2015-09-30 | GSE69721 | GEO
Project description:To characterize the differentially expressed genes between engorged ticks and semi-engorged ticks
2018-01-01 | GSE67247 | GEO
Project description:Tick-borne diseases (TBDs) are the most common illnesses transmitted by ticks, and the annual number of reported TBD cases continues to increase. The Asian longhorned tick, a vector associated with at least 30 human pathogens, is native to eastern Asia and recently reached the USA as an emerging disease threat. Newly identified tick-transmitted pathogens continue to be reported, raising concerns about how TBDs occur. Interestingly, tick can harbor pathogens without being affected themselves. For viral infections, ticks have their own immune systems that protect them from infection. Meanwhile, tick-borne viruses have evolved to avoid these defenses as they establish themselves within the vector. Here, we show in detail that infecting longhorned ticks with distinct arthropod-borne RNA viruses through two approaches natural blood feeding and injection, all induce the production of vsiRNAs. Dicer2-like homolog plays a role in regulating antiviral RNAi responses as knocking down of this gene enhanced viral replication. Furthermore, we demonstrate that tick antiviral RNAi responses are inhibited through expression heterologous VSR proteins in recombinant SINV. We identify both the virus and tick factors are critical components to understanding TBDs. Importantly, our study introduces a novel, in vivo virus-vector-mouse model system for exploring TBDs in the future.
2021-11-22 | GSE159277 | GEO
Project description:A collection of 1145 clones from an EST project on female tick salivary gland genes was hybridized on glass slides to RNA extracted from several feeding stages of adult female tick salivary glands, including unfed and replete, and from adult male ticks, either unfed or fed in the presence or absence of female ticks. In the female ticks, the early fed (<50 mg) and partially fed (30-200 mg) groups were very similar. The fast feeding (350-500 mg) and replete ticks were similar to each other, but different from the partially fed. The unfed ticks were more similar to the fast feeding – replete groups than the early fed-partially fed groups. In the males, there were differences between the males fed in the presence or absence of females, but overall, these groups were very similar. The unfed ticks were significantly different from the fed ticks. Males showed clear differences with females in expression, as well. The unfed females had high levels of genes involved in protein synthesis, while genes possibly involved in survival on the host, such as anticoagulants, seemed to be most expressed in the early and partially fed states. By contrast, in the males, the protein synthesis genes were expressed more in all three groups, while the putative secreted genes for survival were expressed less. Keywords: time course, effect of feeding, sex, effect of presence of females
2006-06-08 | GSE5010 | GEO
Project description:A collection of 1145 clones from an EST project on female tick salivary gland genes was hybridized on glass slides to RNA extracted from several feeding stages of adult female tick salivary glands, including unfed and replete, and from adult male ticks, either unfed or fed in the presence or absence of female ticks. In the female ticks, the early fed (<50 mg) and partially fed (30-200 mg) groups were very similar. The fast feeding (350-500 mg) and replete ticks were similar to each other, but different from the partially fed. The unfed ticks were more similar to the fast feeding â replete groups than the early fed-partially fed groups. In the males, there were differences between the males fed in the presence or absence of females, but overall, these groups were very similar. The unfed ticks were significantly different from the fed ticks. Males showed clear differences with females in expression, as well. The unfed females had high levels of genes involved in protein synthesis, while genes possibly involved in survival on the host, such as anticoagulants, seemed to be most expressed in the early and partially fed states. By contrast, in the males, the protein synthesis genes were expressed more in all three groups, while the putative secreted genes for survival were expressed less. Keywords: time course, effect of feeding, sex, effect of presence of females All samples were compared to the partially fed females. Females consisted of five groups: unfed, early fed, partially fed, fast feeding and replete. Four or five biological replicates were done of each, with the dyes used in both possible ways. In the males, three groups were used: unfed, feeding in the presence of females, and feeding in the absence of females. Two biological replicates were done of the feeding males, and one of extracts was hybridized twice for the males fed in the presence of females. Unfed males used one RNA sample, extracted from a large pool of ticks.
2010-06-11 | E-GEOD-5010 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Metagenomic sequencing of ticks in China Raw sequence reads
| PRJNA816261 | ENA
Project description:We found that assassin bugs from the earliest-diverging subfamily of higher Reduviidae (Peiratinae), as well as a subfamily closely related to Triatominae (Stenopodainae) have venom that is highly similar in composition to that produced by previously examined reduviids from Harpactorinae and Reduviinae. This finding suggests that venom composition has been largely stable due to purifying selection among the higher Reduviidae, which is consistent with the ancient origin of venom in the ancestors of Heteroptera 250–300 million years ago (Sunagar and Moran 2015; Walker et al. 2018a). This near homogeneity of venom composition is perhaps surprising considering that reduviid predators have evolved numerous instances of prey specialization and specialized hunting strategies that might be expected to co-evolve with venom. Possibly, further studies focussing on species with more specialized hunting strategies, or different kinds of venom bioactivities, will uncover more nuanced venom adaptations. Alternatively, it is possible that the protease-rich venoms of predatory reduviids are simply well-suited to myriad different hunting strategies. These data are consistent with other examples where venoms are surprisingly similar despite great differences in biology, for example between solitary and eusocial bees. A more detailed picture of venom evolution in Reduviidae would examine venom produced by the early-diverging Phymatine complex as well as venoms of non-reduviid cimicomorphs, prey specialists such as the arachnophagous Emesinae and the myrmecophagous Holoptilinae, and some of the many groups that employ hunting specializations, such as the use of plant resins to catch prey (Hwang and Weirauch 2012). Within Triatominae, examination of saliva produced by additional species from multiple lineages (especially those that switched to blood-feeding independently, if the subfamily is shown to be polyphyletic) and including generalists and specialists on different host taxa and species associated especially with nests and burrows will be informative. The venoms of predatory reduviids such as Zelurus spp. and Opisthacidius spp. that are most closely related to Triatominae, and share some behaviours such as habitation of bird nests by Opisthacidius spp. may also provide more information about the evolution of triatomine saliva.
2024-07-30 | PXD050854 | Pride