Study on the Effect of Serial passage on the virulence of Neospora caninum
We performed RNA seq analysis to compare the transcriptomic profiles of the virulent Neospora caninum isolate Nc1 09 and its serially passaged, attenuated derivative isolate Nc1. Tachyzoites from both strains were harvested in triplicate, and total RNA was sequenced on the NovaSeq platform. A total of 487 differentially expressed genes were identified, with significant enrichment in pathways related to protein modification, host parasite interaction, motility, and metabolism. The data provide insights into the transcriptional remodeling associated with long term in vitro passage and virulence attenuation.