Blood-feeding adaptations and virome assessment of the poultry red mite Dermanyssus gallinae guided by RNA-seq

Dermanyssus gallinae is a blood-feeding mite that parasitises wild birds and farmed poultry. Its remarkably swift processing of blood, together with the capacity to blood-feed during most developmental stages, makes this mite a highly debilitating pest. To identify specific adaptations to digestion of a haemoglobin-rich diet, we constructed and compared transcriptomes from starved and blood-fed stages of the parasite and identified midgut-enriched transcripts. We noted that midgut transcripts encoding cysteine proteases were upregulated with a blood meal. Mapping the full proteolytic apparatus, we noted a reduction in the suite of cysteine proteases, missing homologues for Cathepsin B and C.

Instituto de Patología Vegetal

Fil: Ribeiro, José M. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research; Estados Unidos

Fil: Hartmann, David. Czech Academy of Sciences. Biology Centre. Institute of Parasitology. Biology Centre; República Checa

Fil: Bartošová-Sojková, Pavla. Czech Academy of Sciences. Biology Centre. Institute of Parasitology. Biology Centre; República Checa

Fil: Debat, Humberto Julio. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Patología Vegetal; Argentina

Fil: Debat, Humberto Julio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Unidad de Fitopatología y Modelización Agrícola (UFyMA); Argentina

Fil: Moos, Martin. Czech Academy of Sciences. Biology Centre. Institute of Entomology; República Checa

Fil: Šimek, Petr. Czech Academy of Sciences. Biology Centre. Institute of Entomology; República Checa

Fil: Fara, Jiří.International Poultry Testing Station Ústrašice; República Checa

Fil: Palus, Martin. Czech Academy of Sciences. Biology Centre. Institute of Parasitology; República Checa

Fil: Kučera, Matěj. Czech Academy of Sciences. Biology Centre. Institute of Parasitology; República Checa

Fil: Hajdušek, Ondřej. Czech Academy of Sciences. Biology Centre. Institute of Parasitology; República Checa