The salmon louse, Lepeophtheirus salmonis, is a hematophagous ectoparasite of salmonid fish. Due to its blood-feeding activity, the louse is exposed to great amounts of iron, which is an essential, yet potentially toxic mineral. The major known iron storage protein is ferritin, which the salmon louse encodes four genes of (LsFer1-4). Two of the ferritins are predicted to be secreted. These are one of the heavy chain homologs (LsFer1) and the light chain homolog (LsFer2). Here, we perform functional studies and characterize the two secreted ferritins. Our results show that knocking down LsFer1 and LsFer2 both negatively affect the parasite’s physiology, as it is not able to properly feed and reproduce. In a starvation experiment, the transcript levels of both LsFer1 and LsFer2 decrease during the starvation period. Combined, these results demonstrate the importance of these genes for the normal parasite biology, and they could thus potentially be targets for pest management.

鲑鱼虱（Lepeophtheirus鲑鱼）是鲑鱼的嗜血性外寄生虫。由于虱子具有补血功能，因此它会接触大量铁，这是一种必不可少的但有潜在毒性的矿物质。已知的主要铁存储蛋白是铁蛋白，鲑鱼虱子编码（LsFer1-4）的四个基因。预计其中两个铁蛋白会分泌。它们是重链同源物（LsFer1）和轻链同源物（LsFer2）之一。在这里，我们进行功能研究并表征两种分泌的铁蛋白。我们的结果表明，降低LsFer1和LsFer2两者均不利于寄生虫的生理，因为它无法正确地喂养和繁殖。在饥饿实验中，LsFer1和LsFer2的转录水平在饥饿期间降低。综合起来，这些结果证明了这些基因对于正常寄生虫生物学的重要性，因此它们有可能成为有害生物管理的目标。