L3-L4 Developmental Transcriptome of the human parasitic nematode Brugia malayi and its Wolbachia endosymbiont

Lymphatic filarial nematodes maintain a mutualistic association with the intracellular bacterium Wolbachia. Wolbachia populations expand following infection of the mammalian host, to support larval growth and development. Utilizing transcriptomic data from Brugia malayi over the first two weeks post-infection, we present an analysis of the biochemical pathways that are involved in Wolbachia population growth and regulation in support of larval development. In Wolbachia, we observe coordinated regulation of carbon metabolism with an alternating pattern of glycolysis and TCA cycle pathways reminiscent of the ‘Warburg effect’. Wolbachia's purine, pyrimidine and haem biosynthesis and Type IV secretion pathways are also upregulated and correlate with the upregulation of the nematode’s DNA replication pathway. In the nematode we observe up-regulation of the autophagy pathway, a key regulator of Wolbachia populations. These findings support a key role for nucleotide and haem provisioning from Wolbachia in support of the larval growth and development of its nematode host. Examination of 4 time-points spanning the first two weeks after B. malayi infection of a jird animal model model: 3, 7, 11, and 14 days post-infection. Samples were sequenced as single-end samples in triplcate using an Illumina GA-Iix instrument.