title: De novo assembly of the dual transcriptomes of a polymorphic raptor species and its malarial parasite.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Studies of non-model species are important for understanding the molecular processes underpinning phenotypic variation under natural ecological conditions. The common buzzard (Buteo buteo; Aves: Accipitriformes) is a widespread and common Eurasian raptor with three distinct plumage morphs that differ in several fitness-related traits, including parasite infestation. To provide a genomic resource for plumage polymorphic birds in general and to search for candidate genes relating to fitness, we generated a transcriptome from a single dead buzzard specimen plus easily accessible, minimally invasive samples from live chicks.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We not only de novo assembled a near-complete buzzard transcriptome, but also obtained a significant fraction of the transcriptome of its malaria-like parasite, Leucocytozoon buteonis. By identifying melanogenesis-related transcripts that are differentially expressed in light ventral and dark dorsal feathers, but which are also expressed in other regions of the body, we also identified a suite of candidate genes that could be associated with fitness differences among the morphs. These include several immune-related genes, providing a plausible link between melanisation and parasite load. qPCR analysis of a subset of these genes revealed significant differences between ventral and dorsal feathers and an additional effect of morph.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This new resource provides preliminary insights into genes that could be involved in fitness differences between the buzzard colour morphs, and should facilitate future studies of raptors and their malaria-like parasites.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Behaviour, Bielefeld University, 33501, Bielefeld, Germany.
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pauli
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Behaviour, Bielefeld University, 33501, Bielefeld, Germany. az.nayden@gmail.com.|Present address: Molecular Ecology and Evolution Lab, Lund University, 223 62, Lund, Sweden. az.nayden@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Nayden
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chakarov
authors.affiliation: Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, Justus-Liebig-University, 35390, Giessen, Germany.|Center for Biotechnology, Bielefeld University, 33501, Bielefeld, Germany.
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Rupp
authors.affiliation: Center for Biotechnology, Bielefeld University, 33501, Bielefeld, Germany.
authors.forename: Jörn
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kalinowski
authors.affiliation: Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, Justus-Liebig-University, 35390, Giessen, Germany.|Center for Biotechnology, Bielefeld University, 33501, Bielefeld, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goesmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA.
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Sorenson
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Behaviour, Bielefeld University, 33501, Bielefeld, Germany.
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Krüger
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Behaviour, Bielefeld University, 33501, Bielefeld, Germany.
authors.forename: Joseph Ivan
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Hoffman
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005819:Genetic Markers; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods; D016787:Haemosporida / Q000235:genetics*; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D008543:Melanins / Q000378:metabolism; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D020304:Raptors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000469:parasitology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers; D008543:Melanins