First transcriptome analysis of bryozoan Fredericella sultana, the primary host of myxozoan parasite Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae

Abstract

Bryozoans are aquatic invertebrate moss animals that are found worldwide. Fredericella sultana is a freshwater bryozoan and is the most common primary host of myxozoan parasite, Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae. However, limited genomic resources are available for this bryozoan, which hampers investigations into the molecular mechanisms of host-parasite interactions. To better understand these interactions, there is a need to build a transcriptome dataset of F. sultana, for functional genomics analysis by large-scale RNA sequencing. Total RNA was extracted from zooids of F. sultana cultivated under controlled laboratory conditions. cDNA libraries were prepared and were analyzed by the Illumina paired-ends sequencing. The sequencing data were used for de novo transcriptome assembly and functional annotation. Approximately 118 million clean reads were obtained, and assembled into 85,544 contigs with an average length of 852 bp, an N50 of 1,085 bp, and an average GC content 51.4%. A total of 23,978 (28%) contigs were annotated using BLASTX analysis. Of these transcripts, 4,400 contigs had highest similarity to brachiopod species Lingula anatina. Based on Gene ontology (GO) annotation, the most highly scored categories of biological process were categorized into cellular process (27%), metabolic process (24%), and biological regulation (8%) in the transcriptome of F. sultana. This study gives first insights into the transcriptome of F. sultana and provides comprehensive genetic resources for the species. We believe that the transcriptome of F. sultana will serve as a useful genomic dataset to accelerate research of functional genomics and will help facilitate whole genome sequencing and annotation. Candidate genes potentially involved in growth, proteolysis, and stress/immunity-response were identified, and are worthy of further investigation.