Horizontally transferred genetic elements in the tsetse fly genome

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25850195
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Veterinary medical science
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: NAKAO RYO 北海道大学, (連合)獣医学研究科, 特任助教 (50633955)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 遺伝子水平伝播 / 吸血性節足動物 / ツェツェバエ / ベクター / BLSOM / Wolbachia / 共生 / ゲノム進化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Tsetse flies (Glossina spp.) are the primary vectors of trypanosomes, which can cause Human and Animal African trypanosomiasis. The objective of this study was to explore the genetic elements horizontally transferred from microorganisms in the genome of Glossina morsitans using a composition-based bioinformatics program, so-called Batch Learning Self-Organizing Map (BLSOM). The method allows clustering of the sequence fragments based on the similarity of oligonucleotide frequencies independently of homologous sequences. After initial scan of potential HGT events by BLSOM, nearly 3.8% of the tsetse fly genome was assigned as potential HGT candidates. In order to find potential donors of HGT elements, bacterial communities in the field-captured tsetse flies were investigated. In addition to the previously recognized arthropod symbionts including genera Arsenophonus and Wolbachia, the bacteria of which genetic elements were found in tsetse genome were identified in the tsetse flies.

Free Research Field

獣医寄生虫学