Bio21 Molecular Science and Biotechnology Institute, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia.
Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Melbourne Veterinary School, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia.
Parasit Vectors. 2020 Nov 27;13(1):598. doi: 10.1186/s13071-020-04476-6.
Larvae of the Australian sheep blowfly, Lucilia cuprina, parasitise sheep by feeding on skin excretions, dermal tissue and blood, causing severe damage known as flystrike or myiasis. Recent advances in -omic technologies and bioinformatic data analyses have led to a greater understanding of blowfly biology and should allow the identification of protein families involved in host-parasite interactions and disease. Current literature suggests that proteins of the SCP (Sperm-Coating Protein)/TAPS (Tpx-1/Ag5/PR-1/Sc7) (SCP/TAPS) superfamily play key roles in immune modulation, cross-talk between parasite and host as well as developmental and reproductive processes in parasites.
Here, we employed a bioinformatics workflow to curate the SCP/TAPS protein gene family in L. cuprina. Protein sequence, the presence and number of conserved CAP-domains and phylogeny were used to group identified SCP/TAPS proteins; these were compared to those found in Drosophila melanogaster to make functional predictions. In addition, transcription levels of SCP/TAPS protein-encoding genes were explored in different developmental stages.
A total of 27 genes were identified as belonging to the SCP/TAPS gene family: encoding 26 single-domain proteins each with a single CAP domain and a solitary double-domain protein containing two conserved cysteine-rich secretory protein/antigen 5/pathogenesis related-1 (CAP) domains. Surprisingly, 16 SCP/TAPS predicted proteins formed an extended tandem array spanning a 53 kb region of one genomic region, which was confirmed by MinION long-read sequencing. RNA-seq data indicated that these 16 genes are highly transcribed in all developmental stages (excluding the embryo).
Future work should assess the potential of selected SCP/TAPS proteins as novel targets for the control of L. cuprina and related parasitic flies of major socioeconomic importance.
澳大利亚绵羊狂蝇的幼虫通过吸食皮肤分泌物、真皮组织和血液来寄生在绵羊身上，导致严重的损伤，称为蝇蛆病或蝇蛆病。组学技术和生物信息数据分析的最新进展使我们对狂蝇生物学有了更深入的了解，应该能够识别参与宿主-寄生虫相互作用和疾病的蛋白质家族。目前的文献表明，SCP（精子包被蛋白）/TAPS（Tpx-1/Ag5/PR-1/Sc7）（SCP/TAPS）超家族的蛋白质在免疫调节、寄生虫和宿主之间的交流以及寄生虫的发育和生殖过程中发挥关键作用。
在这里，我们采用了生物信息学工作流程来编纂 L. cuprina 的 SCP/TAPS 蛋白基因家族。使用蛋白质序列、保守 CAP 结构域的存在和数量以及系统发育将鉴定出的 SCP/TAPS 蛋白进行分组；将这些与果蝇中的 SCP/TAPS 蛋白进行比较，以进行功能预测。此外，还研究了 SCP/TAPS 蛋白编码基因在不同发育阶段的转录水平。
共鉴定出 27 个基因属于 SCP/TAPS 基因家族：编码 26 个单域蛋白，每个蛋白都有一个单一的 CAP 结构域和一个单独的双域蛋白，包含两个保守的半胱氨酸丰富的分泌蛋白/抗原 5/发病相关蛋白 1（CAP）结构域。令人惊讶的是，16 个 SCP/TAPS 预测蛋白形成了一个扩展的串联阵列，跨越一个基因组区域的 53 kb 区域，这通过 MinION 长读测序得到了证实。RNA-seq 数据表明，这些 16 个基因在所有发育阶段（不包括胚胎）都高度转录。
未来的工作应该评估选定的 SCP/TAPS 蛋白作为控制 L. cuprina 和相关具有重大社会经济重要性的寄生蝇的新型靶标的潜力。
