Browsing by Author "James, A. A."
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- Genome analysis of a major urban malaria vector mosquito, Anopheles stephensiJiang, 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.
- miRNA Genes of an Invasive Vector Mosquito, Aedes albopictusGu, J.; Hu, W.; Wu, J.; Zheng, P.; Chen, M.; James, A. A.; Chen, X.; Tu, Zhijian Jake (PLOS, 2013-07-01)Aedes albopictus, a vector of Dengue and Chikungunya viruses, is a robust invasive species in both tropical and temperate environments. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate gene expression and biological processes including embryonic development, innate immunity and infection. While a number of miRNAs have been discovered in some mosquitoes, no comprehensive effort has been made to characterize them from different developmental stages from a single species. Systematic analysis of miRNAs in Ae. albopictus will improve our understanding of its basic biology and inform novel strategies to prevent virus transmission. Between 10–14 million Illumina sequencing reads per sample were obtained from embryos, larvae, pupae, adult males, sugar-fed and blood-fed adult females. A total of 119 miRNA genes represented by 215 miRNA or miRNA star (miRNA*) sequences were identified, 15 of which are novel. Eleven, two, and two of the newly-discovered miRNA genes appear specific to Aedes, Culicinae, and Culicidae, respectively. A number of miRNAs accumulate predominantly in one or two developmental stages and the large number that showed differences in abundance following a blood meal likely are important in blood-induced mosquito biology. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis of the targets of all Ae. albopictus miRNAs provides a useful starting point for the study of their functions in mosquitoes. This study is the first systematic analysis of miRNAs based on deep-sequencing of small RNA samples of all developmental stages of a mosquito species. A number of miRNAs are related to specific physiological states, most notably, pre- and post-blood feeding. The distribution of lineagespecific miRNAs is consistent with mosquito phylogeny and the presence of a number of Aedes-specific miRNAs likely reflects the divergence between the Aedes and Culex genera.