Haemoglobin crystals in the midgut of the tick Ornithodorus moubata Murray

Ticks of the Ornithodorus moubata Murray (Ixodoidea, Argasidae) complex, distributed through East Africa, are known as vectors of African relapsing fever 1 . A laboratory strain of O. moubata porcinus (originally from Tanzania and bred according to the method of Geigy and Herbig 1 ) uses the guinea-...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 1977-04, Vol.266 (5602), p.536-538
Main Authors: SMIT, J. D. G, GRANDJEAN, O, GUGGENHEIM, R, WINTERHALTER, K. H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Crystallization
Female
Heme - metabolism
Hemoglobins - metabolism
Humanities and Social Sciences
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
Intestinal Mucosa - metabolism
letter
Male
Methemoglobin - metabolism
Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
multidisciplinary
Osmolar Concentration
Oxyhemoglobins - metabolism
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Ticks - metabolism
X-Ray Diffraction
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Summary:Ticks of the Ornithodorus moubata Murray (Ixodoidea, Argasidae) complex, distributed through East Africa, are known as vectors of African relapsing fever 1 . A laboratory strain of O. moubata porcinus (originally from Tanzania and bred according to the method of Geigy and Herbig 1 ) uses the guinea-pig ( Cavia porcellus L.) as experimental host. Guinea pig blood crystallises more easily than that of other hosts 2 in the gut of blood-sucking arthropods 3 . In O. moubata crystals appear 5–10 d after the blood meal, first small (0.015–0.05 mm) and clear red, later up to 0.2 mm in all three directions and dark red. These ‘tick-grown’ crystals may still be present after even more than a year. They possibly serve as nutrient reserve 4 since they finally disappear after prolonged starvation. We describe here a study of the formation and structure of these crystals and the changes within these crystals with time. We show the crystals to be composed principally of guinea-pig haemoglobin.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/266536a0