Tick subolesin is an ortholog of the akirins described in insects and vertebrates

The tick protective antigen, subolesin, is a regulatory protein involved in the control of multiple cellular pathways. Subolesin is evolutionary conserved in invertebrates and vertebrates with sequence homology to akirins, a recently renamed group of proteins that were proposed to function as transcription factors in Drosophila and mice. The objective of this research was to provide evidence of the sequence and functional homology between tick subolesin and akirins. The phylogenetic analysis of subolesin and akirins showed that they are evolutionary conserved. The effect of subolesin and akirin2 knockdown was compared in adult ticks and mice, respectively. The results demonstrated that tick subolesin is an ortholog of insect and vertebrate akirins and suggested that these proteins function in the regulation of NF-κB-dependent and independent expression of signal transduction and innate immune response genes. These results suggest that these proteins have an important role in host–pathogen interactions.