Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Melbourne Veterinary School, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, 3010, Australia.
Bio21 Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics Facility, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, 3010, Australia.
Parasit Vectors. 2020 Jul 6;13(1):338. doi: 10.1186/s13071-020-04208-w.
Lipids play essential structural and functional roles in the biology of animals. Studying the composition and abundance of lipids in parasites should assist in gaining a better understanding of their molecular biology, biochemistry and host-parasite interactions.
Here, we used a combination of high-performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometric analyses, combined with bioinformatics, to explore the lipid composition and abundance in the reproductive (Rt) and alimentary (At) tracts of Haemonchus contortus.
We identified and quantified 320 unique lipid species representing four categories: glycerolipids, glycerophospholipids, sphingolipids and steroid lipids. Glycerolipids (i.e. triradylglycerols) and glycerophospholipids (i.e. glycerophosphocholines) were the most commonly and abundant lipid classes identified and were significantly enriched in Rt and At, respectively. We propose that select parasite-derived lipids in Rt and At of adult female H. contortus are required as an energy source (i.e. triradylglycerol) or are involved in phospholipid biosynthesis (i.e. incorporated fatty acids) and host-parasite interactions (i.e. phospholipids and lysophospholipids).
This work provides a first foundation to explore lipids at the organ-specific and tissue-specific levels in nematodes, and to start to unravel aspects of lipid transport, synthesis and metabolism, with a perspective on discovering new intervention targets.
脂质在动物生物学中发挥着重要的结构和功能作用。研究寄生虫中脂质的组成和丰度有助于更好地了解其分子生物学、生物化学和宿主-寄生虫相互作用。
在这里，我们结合高效液相色谱和质谱分析以及生物信息学，来探索旋毛虫生殖（Rt）和消化道（At）tract 中的脂质组成和丰度。
我们鉴定和定量了 320 种独特的脂质种类，代表四类：甘油酯、甘油磷脂、鞘脂和类固醇脂质。甘油酯（即三酰基甘油）和甘油磷脂（即甘油磷酸胆碱）是最常见和丰富的脂质类别，分别在 Rt 和 At 中显著富集。我们提出，旋毛虫成年雌性 Rt 和 At 中的一些寄生虫衍生脂质是作为能量来源所必需的（即三酰基甘油），或者参与磷脂生物合成（即掺入的脂肪酸）和宿主-寄生虫相互作用（即磷脂和溶血磷脂）。
这项工作为在线虫中探索器官特异性和组织特异性水平的脂质提供了第一个基础，并开始揭示脂质运输、合成和代谢的各个方面，以期发现新的干预靶点。
