Expression dynamics of autophagy-related genes in the cattle tick Rhipicephalus microplus during embryonic development and under increasing larval starvation

Rhipicephalus microplus is a hematophagous ectoparasite that significantly affects parasitized cattle. As a one-host tick its entire life cycle consists of free-living and parasitic forms. Its extraordinary ability to survive during prolonged off-host periods has been related to the process of cytop...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Experimental & applied acarology 2019-10, Vol.79 (2), p.255-266
Main Authors: González Castillo, Celia, Ortuño Sahagún, Daniel, Martínez Velázquez, Moisés
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal Ecology
Animal Genetics and Genomics
Animal Systematics/Taxonomy/Biogeography
Animals
Arthropod Proteins - genetics
Arthropod Proteins - metabolism
Autophagy
Autophagy - genetics
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Cattle
Cattle - parasitology
Ectoparasites
Embryogenesis
Embryonic Development - genetics
Embryonic growth stage
Embryos
Energy metabolism
Entomology
Gene Expression
Genes
Larva - genetics
Life cycles
Life Sciences
Mexico
Nutrient utilization
Organogenesis
Phagocytosis
Rhipicephalus - embryology
Rhipicephalus - genetics
Rhipicephalus - growth & development
Rhipicephalus microplus
Transcription activation
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Summary:Rhipicephalus microplus is a hematophagous ectoparasite that significantly affects parasitized cattle. As a one-host tick its entire life cycle consists of free-living and parasitic forms. Its extraordinary ability to survive during prolonged off-host periods has been related to the process of cytoplasmic degradation called autophagy. In order to deepen our understanding of this process during R. microplus non-parasitic stages, we determined the expression dynamics of a set of five autophagy-related genes ( ATG genes) during embryonic development and over an increasing larval starvation period of 50 days. We found two apparent successive waves of ATG genes transcriptional activation, which paralleled key embryonic changes such as cellularization and organogenesis, as well as nutrient utilization. Moreover, during increasing larval starvation, ATG genes were up-regulated cyclically every 10–15 days. Taken together, our results suggest that autophagy is playing a major role in embryo development and energy metabolism during starvation in R. microplus .
ISSN:0168-8162
1572-9702
DOI:10.1007/s10493-019-00428-7