Work

Mitochondrial fission regulates midgut muscle assembly and tick feeding capacity

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Ticks ingest over 100 times their body weight in blood. As the primary tissue for blood storage and digestion, the tick midgut's regulation in response to this substantial blood volume remains unclear. Here, we show that blood intake triggers stem cell proliferation and mitochondrial fission in the midgut of Haemaphysalis longicornis. While inhibiting stem cell proliferation does not impact feeding behavior, disruption of mitochondrial fission impairs tick feeding capacity. Mitochondrial fission mediated by dynamin 2 (DNM2) regulates ATP generation, which in turn influences the expression of the tropomyosin-anchoring subunit troponin T (TNT). Knockdown of TNT disrupts muscle fiber assembly, hindering midgut enlargement and contraction, thereby preventing blood ingestion. These findings underscore the indispensable role of musculature in facilitating midgut expansion during feeding in ticks.

Source: Cell Reports

DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2025.115505

Authors: Zhengwei Zhong, Kun Wang, Ting Zhong, Jingwen Wang

Institutions: Fudan University, Zhongshan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering

Language: English

Topic: Vector-borne infectious diseases

Subfield: Parasitology

Field: Immunology and Microbiology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $5,620