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Article Addendum
Autophagy-related genes from a tick, Haemaphysalis longicornis
Rika Umemiya, Tomohide Matsuo, Takeshi Hatta, Shin-ichi Sakakibara, Damdinsuren Boldbaatar and Kozo Fujisaki
volume 4 | issue 1
1 January 2008Pages: 79 - 81
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Ticks are gorging-fasting organisms; their life cycle is characterized by alternate off-host (starvation) and on-host (meal) conditions. Their generation time is estimated in several years and many ticks spend more than 95% of their life off the host. They seem to have a unique strategy to endure the off-host state for a long period. Thus, we focused on autophagy, which is induced by starvation and is essential for extension of the lifespan, and hypothesized that ticks also have a system of autophagy to overcome the starved condition. Recently, we showed the existence of a homologue of an ATG gene, ATG12, and its expression pattern from nymphal to adult stages in a three-host tick, Haemaphysalis longicornis. The expression level of HlATG12 was downregulated at the beginning of feeding and was highest at 3 months after engorgement. In addition, the HlAtg12 protein was localized to the region around granule-like structures within midgut cells of unfed adults. These results indicate that HlATG12 functions during unfed stages. Here, a potential role of autophagy in unfed ticks is discussed with regard to reports in other animals, such as yeast, mammal, and fruit fly.
Addendum to: Umemiya R, Matsuo T, Hatta T, Sakakibara S, Boldbaatar D, Fujisaki K. Cloning and characterization of an autophagy-related gene, ATG12, from the three-host tick Haemaphysalis longicornis. Insect Biochem Mol Biol 2007; 37:975-84
Authors
Rika Umemiya
Kagoshima University
Tomohide Matsuo
Kyorin University School of Medicine
Takeshi Hatta
National Institute of Animal Health
Shin-ichi Sakakibara
Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine
Damdinsuren Boldbaatar
Kagoshima University
Kozo Fujisaki
Kagoshima University
We now provide open access to journal articles published online for one year or more. This article may be downloaded at the following link:
Download PDF If the document does not open, please right-click on the link (control-click on a Macintosh) and select the option to save the file to disk.