Murine macrophage-Leishmania infectome. Mus musculus domesticus strain:C57/BL6

The goal of this study is to simultaneously interrogate host and parasite gene expression programs in murine macrophages infected with the intracellular parasite Leishmania major. We conducted high-resolution sequencing of the transcriptomes of L. major and infected mouse macrophages using an RNA-seq approach. An array of computational tools was applied to map reads to the L. major and mouse genomes and reconstruct full-length transcripts. mRNA abundance was determined for L. major and mouse genes at various time points post-infection, enabling us to identify co-expression patterns that correlate with the biology of the parasite, specifically the amastigote developmental stage, and to obtain a preliminary analysis of the dynamic nature of parasite and host cell gene expression programs in the context of infection. These data provide the first glimpse of L. major gene expression programs that are uniquely activated during intracellular infection along with the transcriptional response of the murine host cell. The study provides a solid framework for future functional and genomic studies of leishmaniasis as well as intracellular pathogenesis in general.