Transcriptome Analysis Elucidates the Key Responses of Bryozoan Fredericella sultana during the Development of Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae (Myxozoa)

Abstract

Bryozoans are sessile, filter-feeding, and colony-building invertebrate organisms. Fredericella sultana is a well known primary host of the myxozoan parasite Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae. There have been no attempts to identify the cellular responses induced in F. sultana during the T. bryosalmonae development. We therefore performed transcriptome analysis with the aim of identifying candidate genes and biological pathways of F. sultana involved in the response to T. bryosalmonae. A total of 1166 differentially up- and downregulated genes were identified in the infected F. sultana. Gene ontology of biological processes of upregulated genes pointed to the involvement of the innate immune response, establishment of protein localization, and ribosome biogenesis, while the downregulated genes were involved in mitotic spindle assembly, viral entry into the host cell, and response to nitric oxide. Eukaryotic Initiation Factor 2 signaling was identified as a top canonical pathway and MYCN as a top upstream regulator in the differentially expressed genes. Our study provides the first transcriptional profiling data on the F. sultana zooid’s response to T. bryosalmonae. Pathways and upstream regulators help us to understand the complex interplay in the infected F. sultana. The results will facilitate the elucidation of innate immune mechanisms of bryozoan and will lay a foundation for further analyses on bryozoan-responsive candidate genes, which will be an important resource for the comparative analysis of gene expression in bryozoans.

Development of Fish Parasite Vaccines in the OMICs Era: Progress and Opportunities

“…Additionally, transcriptome of bryozoan Fredericella sultana has been demonstrated, which provides valuable resources for the understanding of the unique biological characteristics and functional transcripts of this important bryozoan species that is the primary host of T. bryosalmonae [ 153 ]. Transcriptome analysis of T. bryosalmonae -infected F. sultana revealed 1166 differentially expressed genes with Eukaryotic Initiation Factor 2 signaling as a top canonical pathway and MYCN as a top upstream regulator [ 154 ]. Furthermore, the transcriptome of T. bryosalmonae from F. sultana is found to contain several members of the protease family, e.g., cathepsin L, cysteine protease, zinc metalloprotease, and serine protease [ 155 ].…”

Genome-wide alternative splicing profile in the posterior kidney of brown trout (Salmo trutta) during proliferative kidney disease

“…Furthermore, generating molecular information about the pathogen shall be valuable in developing efficient prophylactic measures [37]. RNA-seq has been employed to understand and generate the transcriptome resources of T. bryosalmonae [38,39] and its hosts [21,[40][41][42]. However, there are no studies to explore the differentially expressed alternatively spliced transcripts in salmonids during proliferative kidney disease.…”