A total of 1152 transcripts from both libraries were sequenced, generating 906 high quality sequences, 472 from the uninfected and 434 from the infected midgut library. roles as it pertains Ly93 to contamination. To our knowledge, this is the first report of differential expression of flea transcripts in Ly93 response to contamination with does not adversely affect its flea host, and is maintained in a natural cycle that involves small rodents and fleas. An increase in reports of human cases in recent years is likely due to increased physician awareness, improved diagnoses, and changes in environment and human behaviour (Azad persists in fleas at which point they may serve as reservoirs of rickettsiae in nature (Azad encounter the flea midgut. Many studies suggest that molecular interactions with the arthropod midgut may determine the fate of imbibed microbes (Dong in the midgut (Hu & Aksoy, 2006). Similarly, silencing of anti-Plasmodium genes in resulted in an increased presence of ookinetes in the mosquito midgut (Dong spp.-infected sand flies with a cDNA library from uninfected sand flies identified several genes that may play a role in the arthropods ability to serve as a vector of disease (Ramalho-Ortigao to highlight how the microbe adjusts to individual Ly93 host environmental temperatures (Dreher-Lesnick infection by constructing and comparing cDNA libraries from midguts. We hypothesize that transcript patterns in the midgut will differ between the infected and uninfected fleas, reflecting the midgut response to challenge. Transcription patterns of select proteases, putative GTPases and defence genes were further analysed over a four-day contamination time-course to elucidate their potential role in the flea response to contamination. Results and discussion To generate a repertoire of flea midgut transcripts that may be involved in the flea response to contamination with midguts were constructed. A total of 1152 transcripts from both libraries were sequenced, generating 906 high quality Rabbit Polyclonal to GPR108 sequences, 472 from the uninfected and 434 from the infected midgut library. Sequences were clustered into groups based on similarity, which resulted Ly93 in a total of 419 contigs derived from two or more sequences, and 334 singletons derived from only one sequence. Transcripts were assigned putative functions based on comparisons with the NR protein NCBI database, gene ontology (GO) database, as well as the NCBI conserved domain name databases (CDD), which include Eukaryotic Orthologous Groups (KOG), Protein Families database (PFAM) and Simple Modular Architecture Research Tool (SMART) (Altschul midgut cDNA libraries. Transcripts were clustered and subsequently compared with multiple databases (see Experimental procedures). Functional groups were assigned a function based on homology to known proteins in the gene ontology and KOG databases. Proteases are integral to bloodmeal acquistion, digestion and possibly the response to contamination Closer examination of transcripts within the amino acid transport and metabolism functional group revealed a large number of transcripts encoding proteases, primarily trypsins and chymotrypsins. Analysis of both libraries identified a total of 76 transcripts in 18 contigs with similarity to trypsin and trypsin-like proteins (Table 1), and 108 transcripts in 22 contigs with similarity to chymotrypsin and chymotrypsin-like proteins (Table 2). A previous study by Gaines serine proteases and examined transcript abundance of select proteases at different life stages, in different tissues and genders, and in response to blood feeding. Of the 18 trypsin transcripts identified in this Ly93 library screen, 13 are seemingly novel flea trypsin sequences (Table 1). Interestingly, 4 of the 13 novel sequences were identified from the infected library only (Contigs 92, 76, 265 and 172). Twenty-two flea chymotrypsin-like transcripts were identified from both infected and uninfected midgut libraries. Of the 22 flea chymotrypsin-like sequences identified in our libraries, 15 appear to be novel sequences (Table 2). Multiple sequence alignment of select trypsins and chymotrypsin transcripts show a moderate degree of similarity outside of conserved regions, which is consistent with a previous report of trypsins (Gaines midgut libraries. The catalytic triad residues are highlighted in grey and marked with an.