Transcriptome analysis of the winter tick (Dermacentor albipictus) reveals sex-specific expression patterns
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1.
University of California, San Diego
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2.
California Institute of Technology
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3.
Agricultural Research Service
Abstract
The winter tick, Dermacentor albipictus, is a significant ectoparasite of ruminants across North America, posing health risks to wildlife and occasionally humans. Despite its ecological importance, limited genomic resources exist for this species. This study provides the first comprehensive transcriptome analysis of D. albipictus, focusing on early-stage embryos, sexed adults, dissected ovaries, and dissected male reproductive systems. Differential gene expression analyses revealed significant sex-biased expression patterns, and functional annotations identified candidate genes involved in sex determination. Notably, we identified the first documented case of sex-specific splicing of a doublesex-like gene in chelicerates, a mechanism previously thought to be absent in this group. This discovery suggests that ticks may share more insect-like features of sexual differentiation, with implications for understanding the evolution of sex determination pathways in arthropods These transcriptome data serve as a critical resource for understanding the biology of D. albipictus and will facilitate the development of novel genetic control strategies.
Copyright and License
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
Acknowledgement
We thank Wayne Ryan (KBUSLIRL) for helping with tick husbandry and Greta Buckmeier and Deanna Bodine (KBUSLIRL) for laboratory assistance. This work was supported by funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (INV-056448) awarded to O.S.A. The views, opinions, and/or findings expressed are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official views or policies of the U.S. government.
Contributions
O.S.A., and I.A. conceptualized the study. P.U.O., and P.S. performed all sample preparations and sequencing; I.A. performed transcriptome annotation; I.A., and R.T.M.E, performed data analysis; R.T.M.E., and E.H wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors contributed to analyzing and compiling the data. All authors contributed to writing and approving the final manuscript.
Conflict of Interest
O.S.A is a founder of Agragene, Inc. and Synvect, Inc. with equity interest. The terms of this arrangement have been reviewed and approved by the University of California, San Diego, in accordance with its conflict of interest policies. All other authors declare no competing interests.
Ethics
All animals were handled in accordance with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals as recommended by the National Institutes of Health and approved by the UCSD Biological Use Authorization (BUA #R2401), and animal procedures were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the KBUSLIRL (IACUC Protocol # 2023-13).
Data Availability
The Illumina sequencing reads for the D. albipictus embryos, male reproductive system, ovaries preoviposition, unfed males and unfed females have been submitted to NCBI Sequence Read Archive within the Transcriptome database (BioProject Accession Primary PRJNA1072088; RNA-Seq SRA study SRP492691, SRR28628997, SRR28628998, SRR28628999, SRR28629000 and SRR28629001).
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Additional details
- Caltech groups
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering (BBE)
- Publication Status
- Submitted