De Novo Assembly and Analysis of Transcriptome of the Dermacentor Marginatus Genes Differentially Expressed After Blood Feeding and Long-term Starvation

Abstract Background The Ixodid tick Dermacentor marginatus is a vector of many pathogens wide spread in Eurasia. Study of gene targets of the tick species provides insight to find novel tick protective antigen for drug development and vaccine targets. Methods To obtain a broader picture of gene sequences and changes in expression level, the 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. Results The RNA-seq produced 30251 unigenes, of which 32% were annotated using Trinity. Gene expression was compared among groups differed by status as newly molted, starved and engorged female adult ticks. Nearly 1/3 of the unigenes in each group were differentially expressed compared to the other two group, 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 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. Conclusions Obtaining 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.