A deep insight into the whole transcriptome of midguts, ovaries and salivary glands of the Amblyomma sculptum tick

Protease Inhibitors in Tick Saliva: The Role of Serpins and Cystatins in Tick-host-Pathogen Interaction

“…The conservation seems to be higher in serpins with basic or polar uncharged amino acid residues at P1 site (Porter et al, 2015). Other 32 serpin transcripts from the Amblyomma genus were found in Amblyomma maculatum (Karim et al, 2011) and 50 in Amblyomma sculptum (Moreira et al, 2017). Two groups described 18 and 22 serpins in R. microplus , respectively (Tirloni et al, 2014b; Rodriguez-Valle et al, 2015) and at least 36 serpins were found in several published trancriptomes from I. ricinus (our own unpublished data based on the analysis of transcriptomes) (Schwarz et al, 2013; Kotsyfakis et al, 2015a,b; Perner et al, 2016).…”

Australian sugarcane soldier fly's salivary gland transcriptome in response to starvation and feeding on sugarcane crops

“…Injection of some effectors into host tissues can facilitate predigestion of food before it is ingested. For example, hydrolases can be responsible for the preoral digestion of food before ingestion (Miles & Taylor, ) and these enzymes have been reported as major components of the salivary gland proteome in many arthropods (Moreira et al ., ; Al‐Jbory et al ., ). The enzyme code distribution among contigs with enzyme activity shows that a substantial number of sequences have hydrolase activity and among these enzymes acting on acid anhydrides (EC:3.6.…”

Tick Bioactive Molecules as Novel Therapeutics: Beyond Vaccine Targets

“…Additionally, these studies have yielded a multitude of predicted tick bioactive molecules, such as anticoagulants, platelet aggregation inhibitors, vasodilators, antimicrobials, immunosuppressants, immunomodulators, and inhibitors of wound healing (Table 1; Francischetti et al, 2005, 2008, 2011; Untalan et al, 2005; Aljamali et al, 2009; Kongsuwan et al, 2010; Karim et al, 2011; Diaz-Martin et al, 2013; Oliveira et al, 2013; Egekwu et al, 2014; Radulovic et al, 2014; Tirloni et al, 2014; Karim and Ribeiro, 2015; Oleaga et al, 2015; Bullard et al, 2016; Kim et al, 2016; Moreira et al, 2017). These studies have also identified new classes of protein families as well as many proteins of unknown function (Table 1; Francischetti et al, 2005, 2008, 2011; Untalan et al, 2005; Aljamali et al, 2009; Kongsuwan et al, 2010; Karim et al, 2011; Diaz-Martin et al, 2013; Oliveira et al, 2013; Egekwu et al, 2014; Radulovic et al, 2014; Tirloni et al, 2014; Karim and Ribeiro, 2015; Oleaga et al, 2015; Bullard et al, 2016; Kim et al, 2016; Moreira et al, 2017). The vast majority of these bioactive proteins have not been studied in detail, and it is likely that many may be homologs or overlap in function.…”

“…Such studies have yielded insights into disease processes and have identified promising candidates for vaccines against tick-borne diseases (Dai et al, 2009; Schuijt et al, 2011; de la Fuente et al, 2016). In addition to these vaccine targets, the advent of “omics” technologies, such as transcriptomics and proteomics, has opened the doors for discovery of a wide variety of tick bioactive molecules (Francischetti et al, 2005, 2008, 2011; Untalan et al, 2005; Aljamali et al, 2009; Kongsuwan et al, 2010; Karim et al, 2011; Diaz-Martin et al, 2013; Oliveira et al, 2013; Egekwu et al, 2014; Radulovic et al, 2014; Tirloni et al, 2014; Karim and Ribeiro, 2015; Oleaga et al, 2015; Bullard et al, 2016; Kim et al, 2016; Moreira et al, 2017). While some of these bioactive molecules may be applicable for the treatment of tick-borne diseases, many are promising candidates for the treatment of other pathogens or human diseases.…”