Departamento de Bioquímica, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade de Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Centro de Biotecnologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), RS, Brazil; Faculdade de Veterinária, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), RS, Brazil; Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Entomologia Molecular (INCT-EM), RJ, Brazil.
Ticks Tick Borne Dis. 2024 Jul;15(4):102333. doi: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2024.102333. Epub 2024 Mar 23.
Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus, also known as the cattle tick, causes severe parasitism and transmits different pathogens to vertebrate hosts, leading to massive economic losses. In the present study, we performed a functional characterization of a ribosomal protein from R. microplus to investigate its importance in blood feeding, egg production and viability. Ribosomal protein S18 (RPS18) is part of the 40S subunit, associated with 18S rRNA, and has been previously pointed to have a secondary role in different organisms. Rhipicephalus microplus RPS18 (RmRPS18) gene expression levels were modulated in female salivary glands during blood feeding. Moreover, mRNA levels in this tissue were 10 times higher than those in the midgut of fully engorged female ticks. Additionally, recombinant RmRPS18 was recognized by IgG antibodies from sera of cattle naturally or experimentally infested with ticks. RNAi-mediated knockdown of the RmRPS18 gene was performed in fully engorged females, leading to a significant (29 %) decrease in egg production. Additionally, egg hatching was completely impaired, suggesting that no viable eggs were produced by the RmRPS18-silenced group. Furthermore, antimicrobial assays revealed inhibitory activities against gram-negative Escherichia coli and gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, affecting bacterial growth. Data presented here show the important role of RmRPS18 in tick physiology and suggest that RmRPS18 can be a potential target for the development of novel strategies for tick control.
微小牛蜱，又称牛蜱，会导致严重的寄生虫病，并将不同的病原体传播给脊椎动物宿主，造成巨大的经济损失。在本研究中，我们对微小牛蜱的核糖体蛋白进行了功能表征，以研究其在吸血、产卵和活力中的重要性。核糖体蛋白 S18（RPS18）是 40S 亚基的一部分，与 18S rRNA 相关，先前已被指出在不同的生物体中具有次要作用。微小牛蜱 RPS18（RmRPS18）基因的表达水平在雌性唾液腺中随着吸血而被调节。此外，该组织中的 mRNA 水平比完全饱血的雌性蜱虫中肠中的水平高 10 倍。此外，重组 RmRPS18 被来自自然或实验性感染蜱的牛血清中的 IgG 抗体识别。在完全饱血的雌性蜱中进行了 RmRPS18 基因的 RNAi 介导敲低，导致产卵量显著（29%）下降。此外，卵孵化完全受损，表明 RmRPS18 沉默组未产生有活力的卵。此外，抗菌测定显示对革兰氏阴性大肠杆菌和革兰氏阳性金黄色葡萄球菌的抑制活性，影响细菌生长。这里呈现的数据表明 RmRPS18 在蜱生理学中的重要作用，并表明 RmRPS18 可以成为开发新型蜱控制策略的潜在靶标。
