Proteomic changes in various organs of Haemaphysalis longicornis under long-term starvation

Abstract

Haemaphysalis longicornis (Neumann), a tick of public health and veterinary importance, spend the major part of their life cycle off-host, especially the adult host-seeking period. Thus, they have to contend with prolonged starvation. Here, we investigated the underlying molecular mechanism of tick starvation endurance in the salivary glands, midguts, ovaries, and Malpighian tubules of starved H. longicornis ticks using the data-independent acquisi-tion quantitative proteomic approach to study the proteome changes. Essential synthases such as glutamate synthase, citrate synthase, and ATP synthase were up-regulated proba-bly due to increased proteolysis and amino acid catabolism during starvation. The up-regu-lation of succinate dehydrogenase, ATP synthase, cytochrome c oxidase, and ADP/ATP translocase closely fits with an increased oxidative phosphorylation function during starva-tion. The differential expression of superoxide dismutase, glutathione reductase, glutathione S-transferase, thioredoxin, and peroxiredoxin indicated fasting-induced oxidative stress. The up-regulation of heat shock proteins could imply the activation of a protective mechanism that checks excessive protein breakdown during starvation stress. The results of this study could provide useful information about the vulnerabilities of ticks that could aid in tick control efforts.