posted on 2021-04-07, 21:14authored byArmelle Buzy, Camille Allain, John Harrington, Dominique Lesuisse, Vincent Mikol, David F. Bruhn, Aaron G. Maule, Jean-Claude Guillemot
The nematode Haemonchus contortus (the barber’s pole worm)
is an endoparasite infecting wild
and domesticated ruminants worldwide. Widespread anthelmintic resistance
of H. contortus requires alternative
strategies to control this parasite. Neuropeptide signaling represents
a promising target for anthelmintic drugs. Identification and relative
quantification of nematode neuropeptides are, therefore, required
for the development of such therapeutic targets. In this work, we
undertook the profiling of the whole H. contortus larvae at different stages for the direct sequencing of the neuropeptides
expressed at low levels in these tissues. We set out a peptide extraction
protocol and a peptidomic workflow to biochemically characterize bioactive
peptides from both first-stage (L1) and third-stage larvae (L3) of H. contortus. This work led to the identification
and quantification at the peptidomic level of more than 180 mature
neuropeptides, including amidated and nonamidated peptides, arising
from 55 precursors of H. contortus.
The differential peptidomic approach provided evidence that both life
stages express most FMRFamide-like peptides (FLPs) and neuropeptide-like
proteins (NLPs). The H. contortus peptidome
resource, established in this work, could add the discovery of neuropeptide
system-targeting drugs for ruminants.