Interfering with cholesterol metabolism impairs tick embryo development and turns eggs susceptible to bacterial colonization
| Autor: | Itabajara da Silva Vaz, Flávia Roberta Brust, Marina Amaral Xavier, Alexandre José Macedo, Jéssica Waldman, Carlos Termignoni, Maria A. Juliano |
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| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Embryo
Nonmammalian Sterol O-acyltransferase Tick Microbiology Cholesterol Dietary chemistry.chemical_compound Ezetimibe parasitic diseases Acetamides medicine Rhipicephalus Animals Tick Control Sulfonamides biology Cholesterol Anticholesteremic Agents Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A Inducers Metabolism biology.organism_classification Blood meal Absorption Physiological Infectious Diseases chemistry Insect Science Larva Rhipicephalus microplus Parasitology Female medicine.drug |
| Zdroj: | Ticks and tick-borne diseases. 12(6) |
| ISSN: | 1877-9603 |
| Popis: | Cholesterol is a known precursor of arthropod molecules such as the hormone 20-hydroxyecdysone and the antimicrobial boophiline, a component of tick egg wax coat. Because the cholesterol biosynthetic pathway is absent in ticks, it is necessarily obtained from the blood meal, in a still poorly understood process. In contrast, dietary cholesterol absorption is better studied in insects, and many proteins are involved in its metabolism, including Niemann-Pick C (NPC) transporter and acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT), as well as enzymes to convert between free cholesterol and esterified cholesterol. The present work addresses the hypothesis that tick viability can be impaired by interfering with cholesterol metabolism, proposing this route as a target for novel tick control methods. Two drugs, ezetimibe (NPC inhibitor) and avasimibe (ACAT inhibitor) were added to calf blood and used to artificially feed Rhipicephalus microplus females. Results show that, after ingesting avasimibe, tick reproductive ability and egg development are impaired. Also, eggs laid by females fed with avasimibe did not hatch and were susceptible to Pseudomonas aeruginosa adhesion and biofilm formation in their surfaces. The immunoprotective potential of ACAT against ticks was also accessed using two selected ACAT peptides. Antibodies against these peptides were used to artificially feed female ticks, but no deleterious effects were observed. Taken together, data presented here support the hypothesis that enzymes and other proteins involved in cholesterol metabolism are suitable as targets for tick control methods. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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