A genomic analysis and transcriptomic atlas of gene expression in Psoroptes ovis reveals feeding- and stage-specific patterns of allergen expression

• Published in: BMC genomics Vol. 20; no. 1; p. 756
• Main Authors: Burgess, Stewart T G, Marr, Edward J, Bartley, Kathryn, Nunn, Francesca G, Down, Rachel E, Weaver, Robert J, Prickett, Jessica C, Dunn, Jackie, Rombauts, Stephane, Van Leeuwen, Thomas, Van de Peer, Yves, Nisbet, Alasdair J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 23-10-2019; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Allergens; Allergens - genetics; Allergy; Analysis; Animals; Beef cattle; Causes of; Chemotherapy; Cluster Analysis; Development; Ectoparasitic infestations; Feeding Behavior; Female; Gene expression; Gene Expression Profiling; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Genes; Genetic aspects; Genomes; Genomics; Health aspects; Life Cycle Stages - genetics; Life-cycle; Male; Mites; Multigene Family; Novels; Phylogeny; Psoroptes ovis; Psoroptidae - classification; Psoroptidae - genetics; Psoroptidae - growth & development; Psoroptidae - physiology; Sex Factors; Sheep; Sheep - parasitology; Sheep diseases; Sheep scab; Sustainable development; Transcriptome; Vaccines; United Kingdom; Development; Allergens; Psoroptes ovis; Sheep scab; Life-cycle; Transcriptome
• ISSN: 1471-2164; 1471-2164
• DOI: 10.1186/s12864-019-6082-6

Psoroptic mange, caused by infestation with the ectoparasitic mite, Psoroptes ovis, is highly contagious, resulting in intense pruritus and represents a major welfare and economic concern for the livestock industry Worldwide. Control relies on injectable endectocides and organophosphate dips, but concerns over residues, environmental contamination, and the development of resistance threaten the sustainability of this approach, highlighting interest in alternative control methods. However, development of vaccines and identification of chemotherapeutic targets is hampered by the lack of P. ovis transcriptomic and genomic resources.
Building on the recent publication of the P. ovis draft genome, here we present a genomic analysis and transcriptomic atlas of gene expression in P. ovis revealing feeding- and stage-specific patterns of gene expression, including novel multigene families and allergens. Network-based clustering revealed 14 gene clusters demonstrating either single- or multi-stage specific gene expression patterns, with 3075 female-specific, 890 male-specific and 112, 217 and 526 transcripts showing larval, protonymph and tritonymph specific-expression, respectively. Detailed analysis of P. ovis allergens revealed stage-specific patterns of allergen gene expression, many of which were also enriched in "fed" mites and tritonymphs, highlighting an important feeding-related allergenicity in this developmental stage. Pair-wise analysis of differential expression between life-cycle stages identified patterns of sex-biased gene expression and also identified novel P. ovis multigene families including known allergens and novel genes with high levels of stage-specific expression.
The genomic and transcriptomic atlas described here represents a unique resource for the acarid-research community, whilst the OrcAE platform makes this freely available, facilitating further community-led curation of the draft P. ovis genome.