Abstract
The European medicinal leech has been used for medicinal purposes for millennia, and continues to be used today in modern hospital settings. Its utility is granted by the extremely potent anticoagulation factors that the leech secretes into the incision wound during feeding and, although a handful of studies have targeted certain anticoagulants, the full range of anticoagulation factors expressed by this species remains unknown. Here, we present the first draft genome of the European medicinal leech, Hirudo medicinalis, and estimate that we have sequenced between 79–94% of the full genome. Leveraging these data, we searched for anticoagulation factors across the genome of H. medicinalis. Following orthology determination through a series of BLAST searches, as well as phylogenetic analyses, we estimate that fully 15 different known anticoagulation factors are utilized by the species, and that 17 other proteins that have been linked to antihemostasis are also present in the genome. We underscore the utility of the draft genome for comparative studies of leeches and discuss our results in an evolutionary context.
Highlights
Notwithstanding the significance of the European medicinal leech Hirudo medicinalis Linnaeus, 1758 as a medical tool from antiquity through modern science-based medicine, it is remarkable that this species’ repertoire of anticoagulants and other bioactive salivary proteins has escaped published in-depth investigation
The draft genome of Hirudo medicinalis ROMIZI 11733 was assembled to 19,929 scaffolds spanning 176.96 Mbps with a median coverage of 146.78×, an N50 score of 50,382 bps, and an L50 score of 772
The raw reads, as well as assembled sequences have been deposited in the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA) under the study accession PRJEB35865
Summary
Notwithstanding the significance of the European medicinal leech Hirudo medicinalis Linnaeus, 1758 as a medical tool from antiquity through modern science-based medicine, it is remarkable that this species’ repertoire of anticoagulants and other bioactive salivary proteins has escaped published in-depth investigation (but see[1]). The exceedingly frequent use of leeches caused overharvesting of several species, including Hirudo medicinalis[13]. Such was the level of harvesting in the 18th and 19th centuries that the collection of both H. medicinalis and H. verbana are still protected and governed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) (see[14] for an in-depth treatise of the species). Our draft genome should, when coupled with that of the non-bloodfeeding glossiphoniid Helobdella robusta (Shankland, Bissen & Weisblat, 1992) (see25), aid a larger diversity of studies into leech evolution and allow for comparative analyses between leeches at the genome level
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