title: Genome Analysis of Pseudoloma neurophilia: A Microsporidian Parasite of Zebrafish (Danio rerio).
abstract: Microsporidia are highly successful parasites that infect virtually all known animal lineages, including the model Danio rerio (zebrafish). The widespread use of this aquatic model for biomedical research has resulted in an unexpected increase in infections from the microsporidium Pseudoloma neurophilia, which can lead to significant physical, behavioral, and immunological modifications, resulting in nonprotocol variation during experimental procedures. Here, we seek to obtain insights into the biology of P. neurophilia by investigating its genome content, which was obtained from only 29 nanograms of DNA using the MiSeq technology and paired-end Illumina sequencing. We found that the genome of P. neurophilia is phylogenetically and genetically related to other fish-microsporidians, but features unique to this intracellular parasite are also found. The small 5.25-Mb genome assembly includes 1,139 unique open-reading frames and an unusually high number of transposable elements for such a small genome. Investigations of intragenomic diversity also provided strong indications that the mononucleate nucleus of this species is diploid. Overall, our study provides insights into the dynamics of microsporidian genomes and a solid sequence reference to be used in future studies of host-parasite interactions using the zebrafish D. rerio and P. neurophilia as a model.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Center for Advanced Research in Environment Genomic, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, K1N 6N5, Canada.
authors.forename: Steve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ndikumana
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Center for Advanced Research in Environment Genomic, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, K1N 6N5, Canada.
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pelin
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Center for Advanced Research in Environment Genomic, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, K1N 6N5, Canada.
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Williot
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, 97331, USA.
authors.forename: Justin L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Sanders
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, 97331, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kent
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Center for Advanced Research in Environment Genomic, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, K1N 6N5, Canada.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Corradi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D044822:Biodiversity; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005393:Fish Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D016681:Genome, Fungal; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D016814:Microsporidia / Q000235:genetics*; D016881:Microsporidiosis / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D005810:Multigene Family; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D034622:RNA Interference; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004271:DNA, Fungal; D005656:Fungal Proteins
keywords: Cryptomycota; RNAi; effectors; host-parasite interactions; microsporidia; ploidy; transposable elements