Molecular biological analysis of the Babesia parasite transmission blocking mechanism conducted by tick aminopeptidase.

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Tick is well known biological vector of zoonotic infectious diseases such as Lyme disease but the tick molecular function regarding pathogen transmission is poorly understood. A terminal enzyme of host blood digestion in tick midgut was an aminopeptidase, HlLAP which was shown to be involved in the regulatory effect on babesial migration in tick by inhibiting its invasion. Based on the cellular biological study, we observed that HlLAP gene silencing by RNA interference induced the immature generation of peritrophic membrane (PM) in midgut. PM is the mechanical barrier of midgut epithelium against bacterial or xenobiotic substances in host blood meal. Therefore, it was assumed that HlLAP which was responsible for the generation of PM disruption of which inhibited indirectly an invasion of Babesia parasite into the midgut epithelium.