Figure 2.

Effect of A. phagocytophilum infection on apoptosis pathways in ticks. Tissue-specific differences in response to infection are evident. In tick midguts, A. phagocytophilum inhibits apoptosis through up-regulation of the JAK/STAT pathway. In tick salivary glands, down-regulation of porin results in the inhibition of the cytochrome c release, inhibiting the mitochondrially-induced intrinsic apoptosis pathway. This effect is balanced in part by the induction of the extrinsic apoptosis pathway through the inhibition of fatty acid synthase (FAS) proteins. Up-regulated in green, down-regulated in red. CASP: caspase; HK: hexokinase.