The Transcriptome of the Salivary Glands of Amblyomma aureolatum Reveals the Antimicrobial Peptide Microplusin as an Important Factor for the Tick Protection Against Rickettsia rickettsii Infection

Conclusion In conclusion, our data show that R. rickettsii exerts a modulatory effect on the transcriptional profile the SG of A. aureolatum. Moreover, RNAi experiments demonstrated that the knockdown of one microplusin increases the susceptibility of ticks to infection, suggesting that this is one important factor for the control of R. rickettsii. The functional characterization of the additional CDSs modulated by infection is warranted and might reveal other factors that interfere with the acquisition and/or transmission of this tick-borne pathogen. Ethics Statement All procedures involving vertebrate animals were carried out according to the Brazilian National Law number 11794 and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics (protocol number 1423/2008) and the Institute of Biomedical Sciences (protocol number 128/2011), University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. This study does not involve experimentation with human beings. Author Contributions ACF designed the experiments. LM, CM, MG, and FC generated the biological samples. LM, CM, and MG performed the experiments. JR performed the bioinformatics data analysis. LM, ACF, JR, and AF analyzed the RNA-seq, RNAi, and RT-qPCR data. JR, AF, and LM performed the statistical data analysis. ACF, JR, AF, ML, EE, and SD contributed to reagents, materials, and analysis tools. ACF and LM wrote the manuscript. SD, MG, ML, AF, and JR critically r...
Source: Frontiers in Physiology - Category: Physiology Source Type: research