Functional annotation and analysis of the Ornithodoros moubata midgut genes differentially expressed after blood feeding

The argasid tick Ornithodoros moubata is the main vector of the African swine fever and the human relapsing fever in Africa. As part of the host-parasite-pathogen interface, the tick midgut expresses key proteins for tick survival and tick-borne pathogen transmission. Accordingly, midgut proteins are potential targets for the development of new drugs and vaccines aimed at tick control, and obtaining proteomic and transcriptomic data from the O. moubata midgut would facilitate the identification of such target candidates. With this aim, we have assembled and characterized the midgut transcriptome of O. moubata females before and 48h after a blood meal, and identified the genes that are differentially expressed in the midgut after feeding. Overall, 23,863 transcripts were obtained, and of them, 9,164 were identified and annotated. The most represented molecular functions were catalytic and binding activities, and the most represented biological processes were metabolic, cellular and single-organism processes. KEGG analysis of the annotated sequences assigned up to 3,053 of them to 130 active pathways, among which, the top 30 pathways were mostly metabolic routes. Differential expression analysis between unfed and fed ticks detected 8,026 Differentially Expressed Genes (DEGs), 4,093 up-regulated and 3,933 down-regulated, respectively. The biological significance of these DEGs was further investigated using the KEEG, Pfam and GO databases. The functional groups of the genes/proteins predicted to be involved in the processes of blood digestion, nutrient transport and metabolism, and in responses related to defence and oxidative stress are discussed in more detail. This work reports the first midgut transcriptome analysis of an argasid tick species, and provides a wealth of novel molecular information about the argasid machinery involved in blood feeding and digestion. This information represents a starting point for the development of alternative strategies for tick control.