Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Sericultural Biology and Biotechnology, School of Biotechnology, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang 212100, China.
Jiangyin Senior High School of Jiangsu Province, Jiangyin 214400, China.
Bull Entomol Res. 2024 Aug;114(4):551-562. doi: 10.1017/S0007485324000385. Epub 2024 Sep 11.
Pebrine disease, caused by () infection in silkworms, is a severe and long-standing disease that threatens sericulture. As parasitic pathogens, a complex relationship exists between microsporidia and their hosts at the mitochondrial level. Previous studies have found that the translocator protein (TSPO) is involved in various biological functions, such as membrane potential regulation, mitochondrial autophagy, immune responses, calcium ion channel regulation, and cell apoptosis. In the present study, we found that TSPO expression in silkworms () was upregulated following infection, leading to an increase in cytoplasmic calcium, adenosine triphosphate, and reactive oxygen species levels. Knockdown and overexpression of resulted in the promotion and inhibition of proliferation, respectively. We also demonstrated that the overexpression of promotes host cell apoptosis and significantly increases the expression of genes involved in the immune deficiency and Janus kinase-signal transducer and the activator of the transcription pathways. These findings suggest that BmTSPO activates the innate immune signalling pathway in silkworms to regulate Nb proliferation. Targeting TSPO represents a promising approach for the development of new treatments for microsporidian infections.
微孢子虫病是由蚕感染微孢子虫引起的一种严重且长期存在的蚕病。作为寄生性病原体,微孢子虫与其宿主在线粒体水平上存在着复杂的关系。先前的研究发现,转位蛋白(TSPO)参与多种生物学功能,如膜电位调节、线粒体自噬、免疫反应、钙离子通道调节和细胞凋亡。在本研究中,我们发现蚕感染 ()后 TSPO 表达上调,导致细胞质钙、三磷酸腺苷和活性氧水平升高。下调和过表达 分别促进和抑制 增殖。我们还表明,过表达 促进宿主细胞凋亡,并显著增加免疫缺陷和 Janus 激酶信号转导和转录激活因子途径相关基因的表达。这些发现表明 BmTSPO 激活了蚕的先天免疫信号通路,从而调节 Nb 的增殖。靶向 TSPO 可能为开发新的微孢子虫感染治疗方法提供新的思路。