Microsomal triglyceride transfer protein in the ectoparasitic crustacean salmon louse (Lepeophtheirus salmonis).

The salmon louse, Lepeophtheirus salmonis, is an endemic ectoparasite on salmonid fish that is challenging for the salmon farming industry and wild fish. Salmon lice produce high numbers of offspring, necessitating sequestration of large amounts of lipids into growing oocytes as a major energy source for larvae, most probably mediated by lipoproteins. The microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) is essential for the assembly of lipoproteins. Salmon lice have three L. salmonis MTP (LsMTP) transcript variants encoding two different protein isoforms, which are predicted to contain three ß-sheets (N, C, and A) and a central helical domain, similar to MTPs from other species. In adult females, the LsMTPs are differently transcribed in the sub-cuticular tissues, the intestine, the ovary, and in the mature eggs. RNA interference-mediated knockdown of LsMTP in mature females gave offspring with significantly fewer neutral lipids in their yolk and only 10-30% survival. The present study suggests the importance of LsMTP in reproduction and lipid metabolism in adult female L. salmonis, a possible metabolic bottleneck that could be exploited for the development of new anti-parasitic treatment methods.

Vaccinomics Approach to Tick Vaccine Development.

Ticks are blood-feeding arthropod ectoparasites that transmit disease-causing pathogens to humans and animals worldwide. Vaccines using tick antigens have proven to be cost-effective and environmental friendly for the control of vector infestations and pathogen infection and transmission. However, new strategies are needed to identify tick protective antigens for development of improved vaccines. These strategies will be greatly enhanced by vaccinomics approaches starting from the study of tick-host-pathogen molecular interactions and ending in the characterization and validation of vaccine formulations. The discovery of tick antigens that affect both tick infestations and pathogen infection/transmission could be used for vaccines targeting human and animal populations at risk and reservoir species to reduce host exposure to ticks while reducing the number of infected ticks and their vector capacity for pathogens that affect human and animal health. In this chapter, we describe methods of the vaccinomics platform using transcriptomics and proteomics for the identification of candidate protective antigens in Ixodes scapularis, the vector for human and animal granulocytic anaplasmosis, tick-borne encephalitis, and Lyme disease.