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Browsing by Author "Arensburger, Peter"

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    Genome analysis of a major urban malaria vector mosquito, Anopheles stephensi
    Jiang, X.; Peery, A.; Hall, B.; Sharma, A.; Chen, X.-G.; Waterhouse, R. M.; Komissarov, A.; Riehle, M. M.; Shouche, Y.; Sharakhova, Maria V.; Lawson, D.; Pakpour, Nazzy; Arensburger, Peter; Davidson, V. L. M.; Eiglmeier, K.; Emrich, S.; George, P.; Kennedy, R. C.; Mane, S. P.; Maslen, G.; Oringanje, C.; Qi, Y.; Settlage, Robert E.; Tojo, M.; Tubio, J. M. C.; Unger, Maria F.; Wang, B.; Vernick, K. D.; Ribeiro, J. C.; James, A. A.; Michel, K.; Riehle, M. A.; Luckhart, Shirley; Sharakhov, Igor V.; Tu, Zhijian Jake (Biomed Central, 2014-01-01)
    Background: Anopheles stephensi is the key vector of malaria throughout the Indian subcontinent and Middle East and an emerging model for molecular and genetic studies of mosquito-parasite interactions. The type form of the species is responsible for the majority of urban malaria transmission across its range. Results: Here, we report the genome sequence and annotation of the Indian strain of the type form of An. stephensi. The 221 Mb genome assembly represents more than 92% of the entire genome and was produced using a combination of 454, Illumina, and PacBio sequencing. Physical mapping assigned 62% of the genome onto chromosomes, enabling chromosome-based analysis. Comparisons between An. stephensi and An. gambiae reveal that the rate of gene order reshuffling on the X chromosome was three times higher than that on the autosomes. An. stephensi has more heterochromatin in pericentric regions but less repetitive DNA in chromosome arms than An. gambiae. We also identify a number of Y-chromosome contigs and BACs. Interspersed repeats constitute 7.1% of the assembled genome while LTR retrotransposons alone comprise more than 49% of the Y contigs. RNA-seq analyses provide new insights into mosquito innate immunity, development, and sexual dimorphism. Conclusions: The genome analysis described in this manuscript provides a resource and platform for fundamental and translational research into a major urban malaria vector. Chromosome-based investigations provide unique perspectives on Anopheles chromosome evolution. RNA-seq analysis and studies of immunity genes offer new insights into mosquito biology and mosquito-parasite interactions.
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    Genomic analysis of two phlebotomine sand fly vectors of leishmania from the new and old World
    Labbe, Frederic; Abdeladhim, Maha; Abrudan, Jenica; Araki, Alejandra Saori; Araujo, Ricardo N.; Arensburger, Peter; Benoit, Joshua B.; Brazil, Reginaldo Pecanha; Bruno, Rafaela V.; Rivas, Gustavo Bueno da Silva D. S.; de Abreu, Vinicius Carvalho; Charamis, Jason; Coutinho-Abreu, Iliano V.; da Costa-Latge, Samara G.; Darby, Alistair; Dillon, Viv M.; Emrich, Scott J.; Fernandez-Medina, Daniela; Gontijo, Nelder Figueiredo; Flanley, Catherine M.; Gatherer, Derek; Genta, Fernando A.; Gesing, Sandra; Giraldo-Calderon, Gloria I.; Gomes, Bruno; Aguiar, Eric Roberto Guimaraes Rocha; Hamilton, James GC C.; Hamarsheh, Omar; Hawksworth, Mallory; Hendershot, Jacob M.; Hickner, Paul V.; Imler, Jean-Luc; Ioannidis, Panagiotis; Jennings, Emily C.; Kamhawi, Shaden; Karageorgiou, Charikleia; Kennedy, Ryan C.; Krueger, Andreas; Latorre-Estivalis, Jose M.; Ligoxygakis, Petros; Meireles-Filho, Antonio Carlos A.; Minx, Patrick; Miranda, Jose Carlos; Montague, Michael J.; Nowling, Ronald J.; Oliveira, Fabiano; Ortigao-Farias, Joao; Pavan, Marcio G.; Pereira, Marcos Horacio; Pitaluga, Andre Nobrega; Olmo, Roenick Proveti; Ramalho-Ortigao, Marcelo; Ribeiro, Jose MC C.; Rosendale, Andrew J.; Sant'Anna, Mauricio RV V.; Scherer, Steven E.; Secundino, Nagila FC C.; Shoue, Douglas A.; Moraes, Caroline da Silva D. S.; Gesto, Joao Silveira Moledo; Souza, Nataly Araujo; Syed, Zainulabueddin; Tadros, Samuel; Teles-de-Freitas, Rayane; Telleria, Erich L.; Tomlinson, Chad; Traub-Cseko, Yara M.; Marques, Joao Trindade; Tu, Zhijian; Unger, Maria F.; Valenzuela, Jesus; Ferreira, Flavia; de Oliveira, Karla PV V.; Vigoder, Felipe M.; Vontas, John; Wang, Lihui; Weedall, Gareth D.; Zhioua, Elyes; Richards, Stephen; Warren, Wesley C.; Waterhouse, Robert M.; Dillon, Rod J.; McDowell, Mary Ann (Public Library of Science, 2023-04-12)
    Phlebotomine sand flies are of global significance as important vectors of human disease, transmitting bacterial, viral, and protozoan pathogens, including the kinetoplastid parasites of the genus Leishmania, the causative agents of devastating diseases collectively termed leishmaniasis. More than 40 pathogenic Leishmania species are transmitted to humans by approximately 35 sand fly species in 98 countries with hundreds of millions of people at risk around the world. No approved efficacious vaccine exists for leishmaniasis and available therapeutic drugs are either toxic and/or expensive, or the parasites are becoming resistant to the more recently developed drugs. Therefore, sand fly and/or reservoir control are currently the most effective strategies to break transmission. To better understand the biology of sand flies, including the mechanisms involved in their vectorial capacity, insecticide resistance, and population structures we sequenced the genomes of two geographically widespread and important sand fly vector species: Phlebotomus papatasi, a vector of Leishmania parasites that cause cutaneous leishmaniasis, (distributed in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa) and Lutzomyia longipalpis, a vector of Leishmania parasites that cause visceral leishmaniasis (distributed across Central and South America). We categorized and curated genes involved in processes important to their roles as disease vectors, including chemosensation, blood feeding, circadian rhythm, immunity, and detoxification, as well as mobile genetic elements. We also defined gene orthology and observed micro-synteny among the genomes. Finally, we present the genetic diversity and population structure of these species in their respective geographical areas. These genomes will be a foundation on which to base future efforts to prevent vector-borne transmission of Leishmania parasites.
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    Genomic insights into the Ixodes scapularis tick vector of Lyme disease
    Gulia-Nuss, Monika; Nuss, Andrew B.; Meyer, Jason M.; Sonenshine, Daniel E.; Roe, R. Michael; Waterhouse, Robert M.; Sattelle, David B.; de la Fuente, Jose; Ribeiro, Jose M.; Megy, Karine; Thimmapuram, Jyothi; Miller, Jason R.; Walenz, Brian P.; Koren, Sergey; Hostetler, Jessica B.; Thiagarajan, Mathangi; Joardar, Vinita S.; Hannick, Linda I.; Bidwell, Shelby; Hammond, Martin P.; Young, Sarah; Zeng, Qiandong; Abrudan, Jenica L.; Almeida, Francisca C.; Ayllon, Nieves; Bhide, Ketaki; Bissinger, Brooke W.; Bonzon-Kulichenko, Elena; Buckingham, Steven D.; Caffrey, Daniel R.; Caimano, Melissa J.; Croset, Vincent; Driscoll, Timothy; Gilbert, Don; Gillespie, Joseph J.; Giraldo-Calderon, Gloria I.; Grabowski, Jeffrey M.; Jiang, David; Khalil, Sayed M. S.; Kim, Donghun; Kocan, Katherine M.; Koci, Juraj; Kuhn, Richard J.; Kurtti, Timothy J.; Lees, Kristin; Lang, Emma G.; Kennedy, Ryan C.; Kwon, Hyeogsun; Perera, Rushika; Qi, Yumin; Radolf, Justin D.; Sakamoto, Joyce M.; Sanchez-Gracia, Alejandro; Severo, Maiara S.; Silverman, Neal; Simo, Ladislav; Tojo, Marta; Tornador, Cristian; Van Zee, Janice P.; Vazquez, Jesus; Vieira, Filipe G.; Villar, Margarita; Wespiser, Adam R.; Yang, Yunlong; Zhu, Jiwei; Arensburger, Peter; Pietrantonio, Patricia V.; Barker, Stephen C.; Shao, Renfu; Zdobnov, Evgeny M.; Hauser, Frank; Grimmelikhuijzen, Cornelis J. P.; Park, Yoonseong; Rozas, Julio; Benton, Richard; Pedra, Joao H. F.; Nelson, David R.; Unger, Maria F.; Tubio, Jose M. C.; Tu, Zhijian Jake; Robertson, Hugh M.; Shumway, Martin; Sutton, Granger; Wortman, Jennifer R.; Lawson, Daniel; Wikel, Stephen K.; Nene, Vishvanath M.; Fraser, Claire M.; Collins, Frank H.; Birren, Bruce; Nelson, Karen E.; Caler, Elisabet; Hill, Catherine A. (Springer Nature, 2016-02)
    Ticks transmit more pathogens to humans and animals than any other arthropod. We describe the 2.1 Gbp nuclear genome of the tick, Ixodes scapularis (Say), which vectors pathogens that cause Lyme disease, human granulocytic anaplasmosis, babesiosis and other diseases. The large genome reflects accumulation of repetitive DNA, new lineages of retro-transposons, and gene architecture patterns resembling ancient metazoans rather than pancrustaceans. Annotation of scaffolds representing similar to 57% of the genome, reveals 20,486 protein-coding genes and expansions of gene families associated with tick-host interactions. We report insights from genome analyses into parasitic processes unique to ticks, including host 'questing', prolonged feeding, cuticle synthesis, blood meal concentration, novel methods of haemoglobin digestion, haem detoxification, vitellogenesis and prolonged off-host survival. We identify proteins associated with the agent of human granulocytic anaplasmosis, an emerging disease, and the encephalitis-causing Langat virus, and a population structure correlated to life-history traits and transmission of the Lyme disease agent.