Data from: Mechanisms of transcriptional regulation in Anopheles gambiae revealed by allele specific expression

Malaria control relies on insecticides targeting the mosquito vector, but
this is increasingly compromised by insecticide resistance, which can be
achieved by elevated expression of detoxifying enzymes that metabolize the
insecticide. In diploid organisms, gene expression is regulated both in
cis, by regulatory sequences on the same chromosome, and by trans
acting factors, affecting both alleles equally. Differing levels of
transcription can be caused by mutations in cis-regulatory modules (CRM),
but few of these have been identified in mosquitoes. We crossed bendiocarb
resistant and susceptible Anopheles gambiae strains to identify
cis-regulated genes that might be responsible for the resistant phenotype
using RNAseq, and cis-regulatory module sequences controlling gene
expression in insecticide resistance relevant tissues were predicted using
machine learning. We found 115 genes showing allele specific expression in
hybrids of insecticide susceptible and resistant strains, suggesting cis
regulation is an important mechanism of gene expression regulation in
Anopheles gambiae. The genes showing allele specific expression included a
higher proportion of Anopheles specific genes on average younger than
genes with balanced allelic expression.

疟疾防控依赖于针对蚊虫媒介的杀虫剂，但这一策略正日益受到杀虫剂抗性的影响——该抗性可通过代谢杀虫剂的解毒酶表达水平升高实现。在二倍体生物中，基因表达受顺式（cis）调控和反式作用因子（trans acting factors）调控：顺式调控由同一染色体上的调控序列介导，而反式作用因子则对两个等位基因产生同等影响。转录水平的差异可由顺式调控模块（cis-regulatory modules, CRM）突变引起，但在蚊虫中已鉴定出的此类模块寥寥无几。我们将抗恶虫威（bendiocarb）的冈比亚按蚊（Anopheles gambiae）品系与易感品系杂交，通过RNA测序（RNAseq）鉴定可能导致抗性表型的顺式调控基因；同时，利用机器学习预测在杀虫剂抗性相关组织中调控基因表达的顺式调控模块序列。我们在杀虫剂易感与抗性品系的杂交后代中发现115个具有等位基因特异性表达的基因，这表明顺式调控是冈比亚按蚊基因表达调控的重要机制。具有等位基因特异性表达的基因中，冈比亚按蚊特异性基因的占比更高，且这些基因的平均进化年龄小于等位基因表达平衡的基因。