de la Fuente José, Lima-Barbero José Francisco, Prado Eduardo, Pacheco Iván, Alberdi Pilar, Villar Margarita
SaBio, Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos (IREC-CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), Ronda de Toledo s/n, 13005 Ciudad Real, Spain.
Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Center for Veterinary Health Sciences, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA.
Comput Struct Biotechnol J. 2020 Jan 23;18:253-257. doi: 10.1016/j.csbj.2020.01.003. eCollection 2020.
Ticks are arthropod ectoparasites and vectors of pathogens affecting human and animal health worldwide. The exoskeleton is a structure that protect arthropods from natural threats such as predators and diseases. Both structural proteins and chemical elements are components of the exoskeleton. However, the chemical composition and effect of pathogen infection on tick exoskeleton properties has not been characterized. In this study, we characterized the chemical composition of tick exoskeleton and the effect of pathogen infection on the chemical elements of the exoskeleton and selected structural proteins. The chemical composition was characterized ventral, dorsal upper and dorsal lower regions of tick exoskeleton by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy and compared between infected and uninfected ticks. The levels of selected structural proteins were analyzed in infected and uninfected salivary glands by immunofluorescence analysis. The results showed that tick exoskeleton contains chemical elements also found in other arthropods. Some of the identified elements such as Mg and Al may be involved in tick exoskeleton stabilization through biomineralization of structural proteins that may be overrepresented in response to pathogen infection. These results suggested that pathogen infection alters the chemical composition of tick exoskeleton by mechanisms still to be characterized and with tick species and exoskeleton region-specific differences.
蜱是节肢动物外寄生虫，也是影响全球人类和动物健康的病原体传播媒介。外骨骼是一种保护节肢动物免受捕食者和疾病等自然威胁的结构。结构蛋白和化学元素都是外骨骼的组成部分。然而，病原体感染对蜱外骨骼特性的化学成分及影响尚未得到表征。在本研究中，我们表征了蜱外骨骼的化学成分以及病原体感染对外骨骼化学元素和选定结构蛋白的影响。通过扫描电子显微镜和能量色散光谱对蜱外骨骼的腹侧、背侧上部和背侧下部区域的化学成分进行表征，并在感染和未感染的蜱之间进行比较。通过免疫荧光分析对感染和未感染的唾液腺中选定结构蛋白的水平进行分析。结果表明，蜱外骨骼含有在其他节肢动物中也发现的化学元素。一些已鉴定的元素，如镁和铝，可能通过结构蛋白的生物矿化参与蜱外骨骼的稳定作用，而这些结构蛋白可能因病原体感染而过度表达。这些结果表明，病原体感染通过尚待表征的机制改变蜱外骨骼的化学成分，并且存在蜱种和外骨骼区域特异性差异。
