HlCPL-A, a cathepsin L-like cysteine protease from the ixodid tick Haemaphysalis longicornis, modulated midgut proteolytic enzymes and their inhibitors during blood meal digestion

Ticks employ a battery of proteases to digest the contents of host blood meals. Host hemoglobin degradation is facilitated by proteolytic networks in the midgut, the first major region of the body where ingested blood comes into contact with the tick’s internal tissues. Our previous studies indicated that HlCPL-A, a cathepsin L-like cysteine protease isolated from the midgut of the ixodid tick Haemaphysalis longicornis, is a potent hemoglobinase, and plays important roles in the digestion of blood acquired from a host. In this paper, we report the effects of silencing of the HlCPL-A gene in H. longicornis using RNA interference (RNAi). We observed that the survival of HlCPL-A-silenced ticks was reduced compared with that of controls during blood digestion, most likely due to the compromised ability of ticks to digest blood. The morphological analysis results of midgut lumen were different between HlCPL-A-silenced ticks and controls, indicating that HlCPL-A plays a crucial role in hemolysis in the midgut of ticks. The expression level was analyzed using quantitative RT–PCR-based endogenous expression approach. Compared to that in malE double stranded RNA (dsRNA)-treated ticks, in the midgut of HlCPL-A dsRNA-treated ticks, some proteases and inhibitors related to the hemoglobin digestive cascade were up-regulated while the others were down-regulated. These results suggest that HlCPL-A is related to the multi-enzyme cascade and protease network for hemoglobin digestion. These findings suggest that the hemoglobin digestive cascade may assemble in the midgut of ticks.