Comprehensive evaluation of Toxoplasma gondii VEG and Neospora caninum LIV genomes with tachyzoite stage transcriptome and proteome defines novel transcript features

Ramaprasad, A., Mourier, T., Naeem, R., Malas, T. B., Moussa, E., Panigrahi, A., Vermont, S. J., Otto, T. D. , Wastling, J. and Pain, A. (2015) Comprehensive evaluation of Toxoplasma gondii VEG and Neospora caninum LIV genomes with tachyzoite stage transcriptome and proteome defines novel transcript features. PLoS ONE, 10(4), e0124473. (doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0124473) (PMID:25875305) (PMCID:PMC4395442)

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Abstract

Toxoplasma gondii is an important protozoan parasite that infects all warm-blooded animals and causes opportunistic infections in immuno-compromised humans. Its closest relative, Neospora caninum, is an important veterinary pathogen that causes spontaneous abortion in livestock. Comparative genomics of these two closely related coccidians has been of particular interest to identify genes that contribute to varied host cell specificity and disease. Here, we describe a manual evaluation of these genomes based on strand-specific RNA sequencing and shotgun proteomics from the invasive tachyzoite stages of these two parasites. We have corrected predicted structures of over one third of the previously annotated gene models and have annotated untranslated regions (UTRs) in over half of the predicted protein-coding genes. We observe distinctly long UTRs in both the organisms, almost four times longer than other model eukaryotes. We have also identified a putative set of cis-natural antisense transcripts (cis-NATs) and long intergenic non-coding RNAs (lincRNAs). We have significantly improved the annotation quality in these genomes that would serve as a manually curated dataset for Toxoplasma and Neospora research communities.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Otto, Professor Thomas
Authors: Ramaprasad, A., Mourier, T., Naeem, R., Malas, T. B., Moussa, E., Panigrahi, A., Vermont, S. J., Otto, T. D., Wastling, J., and Pain, A.
College/School:College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Infection & Immunity
Journal Name:PLoS ONE
Publisher:Public Library of Science
ISSN:1932-6203
Copyright Holders:Copyright ©2015 The Authors
First Published:First published in PLoS ONE 10(4): e0124473
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

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