In the current fiscal year we have advanced our knowledge on novel proteins in saliva of blood feeding ticks and mosquitoes. Specifically, we discovered a novel protein found in saliva of mosquitoes that prevents collagen from triggering platelet adhesion and aggregation by different receptor interactions (1), characterized a second cystatin from the tick vector of Lyme disease with pharmacological potential (2) and identified prostaglandin E2 as the major salivary constituent of Ixodes scapularis (the main vector of Lyme disease in the US) that prevents antigen presentation by dendritic cells, and thus is a major immunosuppressive agent in tick saliva. ? ? We have also increased our salivary transcriptomes database by exploring the salivary transcriptome of vector species so far undescribed, such as the vector of human plague, the flea Xenopsylla cheopis (4), the mosquitoes Aedes albopictus (5) and Anopheles funestus (6), and the vector of Chagas disease, Triatoma brasiliensis (7). We have also expanded the EST coverage of the salivary transcriptome of Aedes aegypti (8), the main vector of Dengue in the World. To better understand the evolution of gene families associated with salivary function, we also sequenced and analyzed a salivary transcriptome of the seed feeding bug, Oncopeltus fasciatus (9), which is closely related to blood sucking bugs. Each transcriptome uncovers dozens of novel protein families which represent a rich resource for mining pharmacologically active and antimicrobial compounds.? ? Our bioinformatic capability allowed us to collaborate with other research groups inside and outside the NIAID, leading on this fiscal year to a publication with the group of Dr. X. Su (LMVR/NIAID) on gene predictions within the malaria parasite genome of Plasmodium falciparum (10), and with Dr. Nora Besansky's group at Notre Dame on the genome structure of Anopheles gambiae.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 115 publications
