title: A family of serine protease inhibitors (serpins) in the cattle tick Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus.
abstract: Proteins belonging to the serine protease inhibitor (serpin) superfamily play essential roles in many organisms. In arthropods these proteins are involved in innate immune system, morphogenesis and development. In mammals serpins regulate pathways that are essential to life such as blood coagulation, fibrinolysis, inflammation and complement activation, some of which are considered the host's first line of defense to hematophagous and/or blood dueling parasites. Thus, it is hypothesized that ticks use serpins to evade host defense, facilitating parasitism. This study describes eighteen full-length cDNA sequences encoding serpins identified in Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus, here named RmS 1-18 (R. microplus serpin). Spatial and temporal transcriptional profiling demonstrated that R. microplus serpins are transcribed during feeding, suggesting their participation in tick physiology regulation. We speculate that the majority of R. microplus serpins are conserved in other ticks, as indicated by phylogeny analysis. Over half of the 18 RmSs are putatively functional in the extracellular environment, as indicated by putative signal peptides on 11 of 18 serpins. Comparative modeling and structural-based alignment revealed that R. microplus serpins in this study retain the consensus secondary of typical serpins. This descriptive study enlarges the knowledge on the molecular biology of R. microplus, an important tick species.
authors: Centro de Biotecnologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Avenida Bento Gonçalves 9500, Prédio 43421, Porto Alegre 91501-970, RS, Brazil.
authors: Lucas
authors: L
authors: Tirloni
authors: Centro de Biotecnologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Avenida Bento Gonçalves 9500, Prédio 43421, Porto Alegre 91501-970, RS, Brazil; Departamento de Ciências Básicas da Saúde, Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre, Rua Sarmento Leite 245, Porto Alegre 90050-170, RS, Brazil.
authors: Adriana
authors: A
authors: Seixas
authors: Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, Minnie Heep Center, College Station, TX, USA.
authors: Albert
authors: A
authors: Mulenga
authors: Centro de Biotecnologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Avenida Bento Gonçalves 9500, Prédio 43421, Porto Alegre 91501-970, RS, Brazil; Faculdade de Veterinária, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Avenida Bento Gonçalves 9090, Porto Alegre 91540-000, RS, Brazil. Electronic address: itabajara.vaz@ufrgs.br.
authors: Itabajara da Silva
authors: Ida S
authors: Vaz
authors: Centro de Biotecnologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Avenida Bento Gonçalves 9500, Prédio 43421, Porto Alegre 91501-970, RS, Brazil; Departamento de Bioquímica, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Rua Ramiro Barcelos 2600, Porto Alegre 90035-000, RS, Brazil.
authors: Carlos
authors: C
authors: Termignoni
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000469:parasitology; D016384:Consensus Sequence; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D048494:Rhipicephalus / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000145:classification; D016415:Sequence Alignment / Q000662:veterinary; D015843:Serpins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D013053:Spectrophotometry / Q000662:veterinary; D013984:Tick Infestations / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D015843:Serpins; D012313:RNA
keywords: Blood-feeding; Inhibitor; Physiology; Serpin; Tick