Abstract
Bryozoans are sessile, filter-feeding, and colony-building invertebrate organisms. Fredericella sultana is a well known primary host of the myxozoan parasite Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae. There have been no attempts to identify the cellular responses induced in F. sultana during the T. bryosalmonae development. We therefore performed transcriptome analysis with the aim of identifying candidate genes and biological pathways of F. sultana involved in the response to T. bryosalmonae. A total of 1166 differentially up- and downregulated genes were identified in the infected F. sultana. Gene ontology of biological processes of upregulated genes pointed to the involvement of the innate immune response, establishment of protein localization, and ribosome biogenesis, while the downregulated genes were involved in mitotic spindle assembly, viral entry into the host cell, and response to nitric oxide. Eukaryotic Initiation Factor 2 signaling was identified as a top canonical pathway and MYCN as a top upstream regulator in the differentially expressed genes. Our study provides the first transcriptional profiling data on the F. sultana zooid’s response to T. bryosalmonae. Pathways and upstream regulators help us to understand the complex interplay in the infected F. sultana. The results will facilitate the elucidation of innate immune mechanisms of bryozoan and will lay a foundation for further analyses on bryozoan-responsive candidate genes, which will be an important resource for the comparative analysis of gene expression in bryozoans.
Highlights
Fredericella sultana is a freshwater bryozoan and is found worldwide
To gain insight into the dynamic alterations in gene expression of F. sultana during parasite development, cDNA libraries were constructed for RNA-seq from infected and uninfected zooids
We provide a global overview of the transcriptional responses of the bryozoan F. sultana to the parasitic malacosporean T. bryosalmonae
Summary
Fredericella sultana is a freshwater bryozoan and is found worldwide. It is typically colonial, consisting of up to several hundred connected individual zooids. Each zooid has its own independent tentacular lophophore used for suspension feeding [1]. F. sultana reproduces both asexually and sexually. The colonies propagate quickly during spring and form tubular and branching colonies that attach to submerged surfaces like pieces of wood and tree roots by summer. They produce dormant seed-like stages called statoblasts [2]. Recent completion of a de novo transcriptome assembly of F. sultana provides insight into the unique cellular, metabolic, and catalytic processes of this bryozoan species [3]
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