De novo assembly and analysis of the transcriptome of the Dermacentor marginatus genes differentially expressed after blood-feeding and long-term starvation

Parasites & Vectors

Zhengxiang Hu¹  Yuan Meng²  Ercha Hu³  Ruiqi Song³  Yongchang Li⁴  Songqin Chen⁵  Wei Zhang⁵  Qingyong Guo⁵  Liting Wei⁵  Xinli Fan⁵  Shilong Fan⁵  Yunwei Hao⁵  Xuejie Zhai⁵  Ying Ma⁵  Yang Zhang⁵  Min Li⁵  Chahan Bayin⁵ 

[1] Bayingol Vocational and Technical College, 841000, Korla, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China;College of Animal Science and Technology, Qingdao Agricultural University, 266109, Qingdao, Shandong Province, People’s Republic of China;College of Animal Science, Xinjiang Agricultural University, 830052, Ürümqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China;College of Veterinary Medicine, Xinjiang Agricultural University, 830052, Ürümqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China;College of Animal Science, Xinjiang Agricultural University, 830052, Ürümqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China;National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, 080-8555, Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan;College of Veterinary Medicine, Xinjiang Agricultural University, 830052, Ürümqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China;

关键词: Dermacentor marginatus;    RNA-seq;    Transcriptomics;    Tick physiology;    Differential expression;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s13071-020-04442-2

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe ixodid tick Dermacentor marginatus is a vector of many pathogens wide spread in Eurasia. Studies of gene sequence on many tick species have greatly increased the information on tick protective antigen which might have the potential to function as effective vaccine candidates or drug targets for eco-friendly acaricide development. In the current study, RNA-seq was applied to identify D. marginatus sequences and analyze differentially expressed unigenes.MethodsTo obtain a broader picture of gene sequences and changes in expression level, RNA-seq was performed to obtain the whole-body transcriptome data of D. marginatus adult female ticks after engorgement and long-term starvation. Subsequently, the real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) was applied to validate the RNA-seq data.ResultsRNA-seq produced 30,251 unigenes, of which 32% were annotated. Gene expression was compared among groups that differed by status as newly molted, starved and engorged female adult ticks. Nearly one third of the unigenes in each group were differentially expressed compared to the other two groups, and the most numerous were genes encoding proteins involved in catalytic and binding activities and apoptosis. Selected up-regulated differentially expressed genes in each group were associated to protein, lipids, carbohydrate and chitin metabolism. Blood-feeding and long-term starvation also caused genes differentially expressed in the defense response and antioxidant response. RT-qPCR results indicated 6 differentially expressed transcripts showed similar trends in expression changes with RNA-seq results confirming that the gene expression profiles in transcriptome data is in consistent with RT-qPCR validation.ConclusionsObtaining the sequence information of D. marginatus and characterizing the expression pattern of the genes involved in blood-feeding and during starvation would be helpful in understanding molecular physiology of D. marginatus and provides data for anti-tick vaccine and drug development for controlling the tick.

【 授权许可】

CC BY