Affiliation:
1. Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
2. Institute of Parasitology and Biomedicine ‘López-Neyra’, CSIC, (IPBLN-CSIC), Granada, Spain
Abstract
Ticks, notorious blood-feeders and disease-vectors, have lost a part of their genetic complement encoding haem biosynthetic enzymes and are, therefore, dependent on the acquisition and distribution of host haem. Solute carrier protein SLC48A1, aka haem-responsive gene 1 protein (HRG1), has been implicated in haem transport, regulating the availability of intracellular haem. HRG1 transporter has been identified in both free-living and parasitic organisms ranging from unicellular kinetoplastids, nematodes, up to vertebrates. However, an HRG1 homologue in the arthropod lineage has not yet been identified. We have identified a single HRG1 homologue in the midgut transcriptome of the tick
Ixodes ricinus,
denoted as
Ir
HRG, and have elucidated its role as a haem transporter. Data from haem biosynthesis-deficient yeast growth assays, systemic RNA interference and the evaluation of gallium protoporphyrin IX-mediated toxicity through tick membrane feeding clearly show that
Ir
HRG is the
bona fide
tetrapyrrole transporter. We argue that during evolution, ticks profited from retaining a functional
hrg1
gene in the genome because its protein product facilitates host haem escort from intracellularly digested haemoglobin, rendering haem bioavailable for a haem-dependent network of enzymes.
Funder
Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad
Centre for research
Grantová Agentura České Republiky
Czech Science Foundation
Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport of the Czech Republic
Subject
General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,Immunology,General Neuroscience
Cited by
6 articles.
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