Project description:Stomach-less fishes comprise a diverse phylogenetic group within the teleosts indicating that the organ has been lost several times during evolution. In the present project we have combined Illumina short read platform with the PacBio long read platform to sequence the ballan wrasse (Labrus bergylta) genome and its intestinal transcriptome. The genome was applied to investigate the elimination and conservation of genes related to stomach function and appetite regulation in wrasse in relation to the loss of stomach in this species. We have sequenced the transcriptome of four intestinal segments from six ballan wrasse (Labrus bergylta) for the purpose of identifying possible functional organization along the wrasse intestine. The transcriptomic reads were mapped against the newly assembled genome. The analysis revealed a transcriptional gradient showing genes involved in nutrient digestion and uptake being highly expressed in the anterior intestine and declining towards the end of the intestine. The last segment, hind-gut, had the most distinct expression between the four segments with increased expression of genes coding for proteins involved in lysosomal activity, antigen presenting and vitamin b12 uptake. Overall, our results suggests that the wrasse entire digestive system is comparable to the small intestine of mammals with regards to gene expression missing both a stomach and colon. Gene expression related to colon in humans such as MS4A12 were found in the last segment. The genome analysis also confirmed the lack of genes coding for gastric proteins such as gastric lipase, pepsin, gastrin and ghrelin. Although ghrelin is not only related to stomach, ghrelin was missing in all stomach-less fish species with the exception of cyprinid. Ghrelin is currently the only known orexigenic hormone.
2017-06-01 | GSE93191 | GEO
Project description:Health assessment of the cleaner fish ballan wrasse, Labrus bergylta Ascanius 1767 from the British South West Coast
Project description:Remaining adult bees in colonies suffering from CCD at apiaries in Florida, California and Pennsylvania were collected during the winter of 2006-2007. The health of CCD colonies was scored at the time of collection as either ï¾severeï¾ or ï¾mildï¾ depending on the apparent strength of the colony. ï¾Historicalï¾ bees, collected prior to the appearance of CCD and hence ostensibly healthy, were collected in 2004 and 2005 from colonies set up on new equipment and not receiving any miticide treatments from apiaries of The Pennsylvania State University near State College, PA. A combination looped, common-reference microarray design was used to compare historical and CCD samples with each other; a blend of RNA isolated from healthy colonies (collected near Urbana, IL in July 2007) served as reference. The microarray experiment compared the guts of bees from mildly and severely afflicted colonies collected in apiaries experiencing CCD on the East Coast (Florida and Pennsylvania) and West Coast (California) with a common reference.
Project description:Ixodes pacificus, the vector of Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) on the west coast, feeds on a variety of hosts including rodents, birds, and lizards. While rodents are reservoirs for Bb and can infect juvenile ticks, lizards are Bb-refractory. Despite the range of bloodmeals for I. pacificus, it is undetermined how larval host bloodmeal identity may affect future nymphal vector competence. Here, we conducted a transcriptome analysis on I. pacificus to determine whether and through what mechanisms host bloodmeal history affects vector competency of I. pacificus for the Lyme disease pathogen.