Dermacentor marginatus female adults transcriptome

The Ixodidea tick Dermacentor marginatus is a vector of many pathogens wide spread in Eurasia. Study of gene targets of the tick species provides insight to find novel tick protective antigen for drug development and vaccine targets. To obtain a broader picture of gene sequences and changes in expression level, we aimed to characterize the whole body transcriptome in D. marginatus adult female after engorgement and long-term starvation using RNA-seq. We have assembled and analyzed transcriptome of D. marginatus females 5 days after ecdysis, 24 h after a blood meal, and 6 months under controlled experimental conditions. Sequencing produced 30251 unigenes, of which 32% were annotated using Trinity. Gene expression was compared among groups differed by status as newly molted, starved and engorged female adult ticks. Nearly 1/3 of the unigenes in each group were differentially expressed compared to the other two group, and we found that the most numerous were proteins involved in catalytic and binding activities and apoptosis. Selected up-regulated differentially expressed genes in each group associated to protein, lipids, carbohydrate and chitin metabolism. Blood feeding and long-term starvation also caused genes differentially expressed in the defense response and antioxidant response. Finding the sequence information and expression pattern would be helpful in understanding molecular physiology of D. marginatus, and provides information for anti-tick vaccine and drug development. Overall design: Nine samples are prepared for sequencing