During feeding with blood meal, female Aedes aegypti can transmit infectious agents, such as dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya and Zika viruses. Dengue virus causes human mortality in tropical regions of the world, and there is no specific treatment or vaccine with maximum efficiency being used for these infections. In the vector-virus interaction, the production of several molecules is modulated by both mosquitoes and invading agents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRhipicephalus microplus is an ectoparasite responsible for transmissions of babesiosis and anaplasmosis causing large losses to livestock production. To survive R. microplus tick produces several active molecules, such as protease inhibitors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Dengue, transmitted primarily by the bites of infected Aedes aegypti L., is transmitted to millions of individuals each year in tropical and subtropical areas. Dengue control strategies are primarily based on controlling the vector, using insecticides, but the appearance of resistance poses new challenges.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe triatomine insect, Rhodnius prolixus, is a vector of Trypanosoma cruzi, a protozoan parasite that causes Chagas disease. The parasite must overcome immune response and microbiota to develop inside the midgut of triatomines. In this study, we expressed, purified and characterized a Kazal-type inhibitor from the midgut of R.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Rhipicephalus microplus tick is responsible for losses in the livestock production estimated in 2 billions USD. Despite its economical importance the knowledge in tick's physiology is sparse. In order to contribute to this scenario we describe the characterization of a cysteine proteinase inhibitor named Rmcystatin-3.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochem Biophys Res Commun
June 2014
Rhipicephalus microplus is an important ectoparasite that is responsible for transmission of anaplasmosis and babesiosis to cattle. Tissue kallikrein inhibitors might play an important role in R. microplus eggs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDengue is a serious disease transmitted by the mosquito Aedes aegypti during blood meal feeding. It is estimated that the dengue virus is transmitted to millions of individuals each year in tropical and subtropical areas. Dengue control strategies have been based on controlling the vector, Ae.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus is an ectoparasite responsible for an important decrease in meat, milk and leather production, caused both by cattle blood loss and by the transmission of anaplasmosis and babesiosis. R. microplus is a rich source of serine protease inhibitors, including the trypsin inhibitors BmTI-A and BmTI-6, the subtilisin inhibitor BmSI, and the recently described thrombin inhibitor, boophilin.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTrypsin-like enzymes play an important role in the Aedes aegypti digestive process. The trypsin-like enzymes present in adults were characterized previously, but little is known about trypsins in larvae. In the present work, we identified one of the trypsin enzymes from Ae.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe tick Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus is one of the most important bovine ectoparasites, a disease vector responsible for losses in meat and milk productions. A cysteine protease similar to cathepsin L, named BmCL1, was previously identified in R. microplus gut, suggesting a role of the enzyme in meal digestion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFKazal-type inhibitors play several important roles in invertebrates, such as anticoagulant, vasodilator and antimicrobial activities. Putative Kazal-type inhibitors were described in several insect transcriptomes. In this paper we characterized for the first time a Kazal unique domain trypsin inhibitor from the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
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