ABSTRACT: Transcriptomic insight into differential gene expression patterns of the camel pathogenic nematode, Parabronema skrjabini, at specific developmental stages
Project description:Parabronema skrjabini is an widespread but neglected blood-feeding nematode. The P.skrjabini can ,as a pathogen ,causes the large ruminants clinical and pathological effects, with even severe infections being fatal, which is of a major veterinary importance in many developing countries. However, there is little information that controls the developmental changes of the parasite survived and developed in insect and ruminant hosts. Here we have collected P.sktjabini of four specific developmental stages and allows for complete understanding the key characteristics of development. We analyzed the transcriptomic changes accompanying the four specific developmental stages using RNA-seq and pinpointed the development-dependent function genes and biological processes.
Project description:In the complex lifecycle of schistosomes, four developmental stages are closely associated with their definitive hosts: cercaria (infective stage), schistosomula and adult worm (parasitic stages), egg (pathogenic- and pathophoresis-stage). We have examined the gene expression profiles of Schistosoma japonicum in the four developmental stages. Genes with different expression patterns were identified and the information obtained will help indentify new anti-schistosomal intervention targets in the future.
Project description:Angiostrongylus costaricensis is a relatively uncharacterized nematode that causes abdominal angiostrongyliasis in Latin America, a human parasitic disease. Currently, no effective pharmacological treatment for angiostrongyliasis exists. Peptidases are known to be druggable targets for a variety of diseases and are essential for several biological processes in parasites. Therefore, this study aimed to systematically characterize the peptidase activity of A. costaricensis in different developmental stages of this parasitic nematode.
Project description:Abstract: Cells express distinct sets of genes in a precise spatio-temporal manner during embryonic development. There is a wealth of information about embryonic development in C. elegans, but much less is known about embryonic development at the molecular level in nematodes from other taxa. We are interested in insect pathogenic nematodes from the genus Steinernema as models of parasitism and symbiosis as well as a satellite model for evolution in comparison to C. elegans. We sequenced the transcriptomes of single embryos of two Steinernema species and two Caenorhabditis species at eleven specific stages during embryonic development for comparative analysis. We found that zygotic transcription initiates at different developmental stages in each species, with the Steinernema species initiating transcription at earlier developmental stages than Caenorhabditis. We found that ortholog expression conservation during development is highest at the later embryonic stages than at the earlier ones. Moreover, we found that the components of the neddylation pathway are highly upregulated during Steinernema early embryonic development contributing further to these early differences seen between the genera at the post-translational level. The surprisingly higher conservation of orthologous gene expression in later embryonic stages strongly suggests a funnel-shaped model of developmental gene expression divergence in nematodes. This work provides novel insight into embryonic development across distantly related nematode species and demonstrates that the mechanisms controlling early development are more diverse than previously thought at both the transcriptional and post-translational level.
