Proteomic changes in various organs of Haemaphysalis longicornis under long-term starvation

PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2022 Aug 22;16(8):e0010692. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0010692. eCollection 2022 Aug.

Abstract

Haemaphysalis longicornis (Neumann), a tick of public health and veterinary importance, spend the major part of their life cycle off-host, especially the adult host-seeking period. Thus, they have to contend with prolonged starvation. Here, we investigated the underlying molecular mechanism of tick starvation endurance in the salivary glands, midguts, ovaries, and Malpighian tubules of starved H. longicornis ticks using the data-independent acquisition quantitative proteomic approach to study the proteome changes. Essential synthases such as glutamate synthase, citrate synthase, and ATP synthase were up-regulated probably due to increased proteolysis and amino acid catabolism during starvation. The up-regulation of succinate dehydrogenase, ATP synthase, cytochrome c oxidase, and ADP/ATP translocase closely fits with an increased oxidative phosphorylation function during starvation. The differential expression of superoxide dismutase, glutathione reductase, glutathione S-transferase, thioredoxin, and peroxiredoxin indicated fasting-induced oxidative stress. The up-regulation of heat shock proteins could imply the activation of a protective mechanism that checks excessive protein breakdown during starvation stress. The results of this study could provide useful information about the vulnerabilities of ticks that could aid in tick control efforts.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adenosine Triphosphate / metabolism
  • Animals
  • Ixodidae* / chemistry
  • Life Cycle Stages
  • Proteomics
  • Ticks*

Substances

  • Adenosine Triphosphate

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province of China (No. C2021205006) awarded to WH, and by the Science and Technology Project of Hebei Education Department (No. ZD2021064) awarded to WH. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.