DIFFERENTIAL GENE EXPRESSION IN DERO HYLAE

Dero (Allodero) hylae is a parasitic oligochaete commonly found within the ureter of various anuran species, such as the Cuban Tree Frog (Osteopilus septentrionalis). Dero hylae makes passage through the cloaca of its host, where it then travels to the ureter where it resides. Once it has located in the ureter, the parasite loses free-living characteristics such as hair setae, dorsal setae, a digestive tract, and fossa with gills. Dero hylae may be expelled from its host via urination if the quantity of parasites within the host is too high. When this occurs D. hylae will then regain all of these free-living characteristics. The focus of this study is to compare the differential gene expression profiles observed when this rapid morphological change takes place. Specimens of D. hylae were collected from wild Cuban Tree Frogs and either flash-frozen for their parasitic stage RNA profile or cultured for two weeks to produce their free-living stage and then flash-frozen. Using the sequenced RNA, a de novo transcriptome was assembled and differential gene expression RNA Tag-Seq analysis