Gene expression in male tick salivary glands is affected by feeding in the presence of females.
In this study, we have compared gene expression in the salivary glands of male Dermacentor andersoni ticks fed in the presence or absence of females to that in unfed males. We have established that the patterns of expression are different using arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction following reverse transcription of RNA (RAP-PCR) and differential display. Our results indicate a significant difference in salivary gland gene expression between fed and unfed males and also between males fed in the presence of females versus males fed in the absence of females. This difference in expression was partially confirmed by hybridization of probes made from mRNA from the three groups of ticks against the cloned gene fragments. Gene fragments for septin, utrophin, eukaryotic chain release factor 3, and elongation factor 2 were identified in this study, though the majority of fragments were not similar to anything in the databases.
Anyomi
Felix M
FM
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078-3035, USA.
Bior
Abdelaziz D
AD
Essenberg
Richard C
RC
Sauer
John R
JR
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003870:Dermacentor / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012469:Salivary Glands / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D012737:Sex Factors
D012313:RNA