Expressed sequenced tags profiling of resistant and susceptible Gyr x Holstein cattle infested with the tick Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Tick resistance in cattle is mainly found in zebu (Bos indicus) animals, although it is also present in some taurine (B. taurus) breeds. In order to characterize functional genes involved in tick resistance/susceptibility in cattle, two cDNA libraries were generated using skin tissues of selected Holstein x Gyr animals. A total of 2700 high-quality reads from both resistant and susceptible cDNA were assembled into 458 sequences (contigs) and 834 singletons, with a mean size of 447.7 nucleotides. Assignment of homologous proteins by BLASTX revealed 790 (61.1%) and 300 (23.2%) hits in resistant and susceptible cDNA, respectively; 121 of these hits matched bovine proteins. A total of 502 (38.9%) unique sequences were found to have no significant homology with known sequences and were classified as novel sequences. In general, the most abundant sequences consisted of those coding for hypothetical proteins whose function had not yet been determined, in addition to ribosomal proteins, binding proteins and structural proteins, such as keratin and collagen. The most abundant protein found was collagen type III alpha, although ribosomal proteins accounted for half of the 40 most frequent hits. In addition, five matches within the top 40 best hits corresponded to immune response proteins. These sequences could be used for future studies on functional genomics of cattle tick resistance as well as for genomic sequencing projects.

Cattle Tick Rhipicephalus microplus-Host Interface: A Review of Resistant and Susceptible Host Responses

“…Although not identified in more than one study, the up-regulation of these factors appears to correlate to the relevant phenotype and are thus worthy of further description. For example the following were identified in different studies as up-regulated in tick resistant breeds: Cathepsin B (Wang Y. H. et al, 2007 ), Cathepsin L2 precursor (cysteine proteases, mast cell mediators) (Nascimento et al, 2011 ), Cathepsin D (aspartyl protease, mast cell mediator) (Franzin et al, 2017 ), serine peptidase inhibitor clade A (inhibits neutrophil elastase), phospholipase A2, group VII (platelet activating factor) (Piper et al, 2010 ), coagulation factors, and procollagen C-endopeptidase enhancer (metalloprotease inhibitor) (Piper et al, 2010 ); and conversely in tick susceptible breeds: serine peptidase inhibitor clade F (negative regulation of inflammatory response), spleen trypsin inhibitor, plasminogen activator (serine protease which produces plasmin which catalyzes the degradation of fibrin polymers in blood clots), prostaglandin D2 synthase (platelet aggregation inhibitor) (Piper et al, 2010 ), and phosphoprotein 24 (endopeptidase associated with platelet degranulation) (Franzin et al, 2017 ) were up-regulated.…”

Application of quantitative proteomics to discover biomarkers for tick resistance in cattle

“…For example, increased expression of Ca 2+ signalling genes was reported in Belmont red and Brahman cattle resistant to ticks in Australia ( 9 , 54 ). In contrast, higher expression of genes related to Ca 2+ ion control has been reported in susceptible cattle in Brazil however these studies were not undertaken with tick naïve samples ( 38 , 55 ). Therefore, the role of calcium signalling, calcium binding, and/or calcium ion control genes in tick resistance needs further investigation using tick naïve cattle and different breeds.…”

Bovine Immune Factors Underlying Tick Resistance: Integration and Future Directions

“…Other components that were found to be upregulated in susceptible cattle include transcripts for IL13RA1, CD44, CD63, TNFα, IL-1β, IL-10, NFKBp50, CD1a, CCR-1, CCL2, CCL26, TLR9, MyD88, CD14, FTH1, BDA20, and Traf-6 (Wang et al, 2007 ; Piper et al, 2008 ; Nascimento et al, 2011 ). However, no transcript was reported in more than one of these studies and as such all require validation.…”

“…However, it was unclear to which tissue this finding refers to. Differential gene expression was furthermore identified for genes encoding Blimp-1 (Kongsuwan et al, 2010 ), cathepsin L2 precursor, MHC class antigen I (Nascimento et al, 2011 ), various adhesion molecules (Carvalho et al, 2010 ), TNF receptor-associated factor 6, TATA-binding protein, lumican and beta-2 microglobulin (Marima, 2017 ).…”

“…The variability in the degree to which cattle display resistance to ixodid ticks was first suggested by Johnston and Bancroft ( 1918 ). It is known that tick resistance in cattle varies from more tick-susceptible Bos taurus taurus ( B. t. taurus ) to more tick-resistant B. t. indicus breeds, between bovine crosses as well as within a single cattle breed (George et al, 1985 ; Rechav et al, 1991b ; Mattioli and Cassama, 1995 ; Mwangi et al, 1998 ; Mattioli et al, 2000 ; Nascimento et al, 2011 ). However, the biological factors underlying bovine resistance to tick infestation are still poorly understood.…”