Longitudinal study of blood-derived transcriptomes of Boran cattle naturally exposed to Theileria parva.

Boran cattle from Kapiti research station in Machakos county, a region of low Theileria parva prevalence, were exposed to natural field infection with buffalo-derived T. parva at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy (Nanyuki, Kenya). The cattle were part of an ongoing study investigating genetic tolerance to East Coast Fever, and their pedigree was known. Cattle were tested by Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using an established protocol to ensure no prior exposure to T. mutans and T. parva infection. While at Ol Pejeta, cattle were kept in an area of the ranch free from other cattle, but in the presence of buffalo. Whole blood samples were collected in 10 ml EDTA tubes prior to transporting cattle to Ol Pejeta (day 0). Additional blood sampling was conducted on days 7 and 15 after arrival at Ol Pejeta, and subsequent natural exposure to T. parva. RNA was extracted and sequenced on the Illumina HiSeq platform.