Understanding the evolutionary structural variability and target specificity of tick salivary Kunitz peptides using next generation transcriptome data.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Ticks are blood-sucking arthropods and a primary function of tick salivary proteins is to counteract the host's immune response. Tick salivary Kunitz-domain proteins perform multiple functions within the feeding lesion and have been classified as venoms; thereby, constituting them as one of the important elements in the arms race with the host. The two main mechanisms advocated to explain the functional heterogeneity of tick salivary Kunitz-domain proteins are gene sharing and gene duplication. Both do not, however, elucidate the evolution of the Kunitz family in ticks from a structural dynamic point of view. The Red Queen hypothesis offers a fruitful theoretical framework to give a dynamic explanation for host-parasite interactions. Using the recent salivary gland Ixode

SUBMITTER: Schwarz A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3890586 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature