Project description:Tick salivary glands secrete a complex saliva into their hosts which modulates vertebrate hemostasis, immunity and tissue repair mechanisms. In this work, we explored using transcriptomic and proteomic analysis the sialome of Rhipicephalus sanguineus (s.l.) adult female ticks feeding on a rabbit. Instead of grouping the ticks by days of feeding, we instead grouped them into six groups based on their weights which better demarks their feeding physiological state. We also included an unfed group. All groups had three replicates except for the unfed group that had two replicates. A total of 687 million reads from 20 libraries were assembled from which 71,643 coding sequences were extracted, 28,921 of which had a TPM (transcripts per million) of 10 or larger in at least one library. The translated transcripts served as a target database for a proteomic study, which identified 2,125 polypeptides. The correlations between transcriptional and translational results in the different groups were evaluated.
Project description:Ticks (Acari: Ixodida) feed exclusively on blood which lacks essential nutrients such as vitamins and cofactors. These deficiencies are presumably complemented through specific symbiotic microorganisms such as Coxiella – Like Endosymbionts (CLEs) of Rhipicephalus ticks. CLE are localized in specialized host tissue cells within the Malpighian tubules (Mt) and the ovaries (Ov) from which they are maternally transmitted to developing oocytes. These two organs differ in function and cell types, and possibly also in activities performed by CLE occupants. To get insights into CLE functions within these two organs, we used comparative proteomics of CLEs in Mt and Ov of unfed R. sanguineus ticks
