Construction and characterization of an expressed sequenced tag library for the mosquito vector Armigeres subalbatus.
BACKGROUND
The mosquito, Armigeres subalbatus, mounts a distinctively robust innate immune response when infected with the nematode Brugia malayi, a causative agent of lymphatic filariasis. In order to mine the transcriptome for new insight into the cascade of events that takes place in response to infection in this mosquito, 6 cDNA libraries were generated from tissues of adult female mosquitoes subjected to immune-response activation treatments that lead to well-characterized responses, and from aging, naïve mosquitoes. Expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from each library were produced, annotated, and subjected to comparative analyses.


RESULTS
Six libraries were constructed and used to generate 44,940 expressed sequence tags, of which 38,079 passed quality filters to be included in the annotation project and subsequent analyses. All of these sequences were collapsed into clusters resulting in 8,020 unique sequence clusters or singletons. EST clusters were annotated and curated manually within ASAP (A Systematic Annotation Package for Community Analysis of Genomes) web portal according to BLAST results from comparisons to Genbank, and the Anopheles gambiae and Drosophila melanogaster genome projects.


CONCLUSIONS
The resulting dataset is the first of its kind for this mosquito vector and provides a basis for future studies of mosquito vectors regarding the cascade of events that occurs in response to infection, and thereby providing insight into vector competence and innate immunity.
Mayhew
George F
GF
Department of Pathobiological Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1656 Linden Dr,, Madison Wisconsin, 53706, USA. mayhew@svm.vetmed.wisc.edu
Bartholomay
Lyric C
LC
Kou
Hang-Yen
HY
Rocheleau
Thomas A
TA
Fuchs
Jeremy F
JF
Aliota
Matthew T
MT
Tsao
I-Yu
IY
Huang
Chiung-Yen
CY
Liu
Tze-Tze
TT
Hsiao
Kwang-Jen
KJ
Tsai
Shih-Feng
SF
Yang
Ueng-Cheng
UC
Perna
Nicole T
NT
Cho
Wen-Long
WL
Christensen
Bruce M
BM
Chen
Cheng-Chen
CC
D000330:Aedes / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000235:genetics; D017178:Brugia malayi / Q000276:immunology / Q000472:pathogenicity; D009033:Culicidae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000469:parasitology; D030561:Databases, Nucleic Acid; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics; D004605:Elephantiasis, Filarial / Q000635:transmission; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D005260:Female; D015723:Gene Library; D017344:Genes, Insect; D049750:Genome, Insect; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000469:parasitology; D005810:Multigene Family; D013045:Species Specificity