RESUMEN
Culex quinquefasciatus (the southern house mosquito) is an important mosquito vector of viruses such as West Nile virus and St. Louis encephalitis virus, as well as of nematodes that cause lymphatic filariasis. C. quinquefasciatus is one species within the Culex pipiens species complex and can be found throughout tropical and temperate climates of the world. The ability of C. quinquefasciatus to take blood meals from birds, livestock, and humans contributes to its ability to vector pathogens between species. Here, we describe the genomic sequence of C. quinquefasciatus: Its repertoire of 18,883 protein-coding genes is 22% larger than that of Aedes aegypti and 52% larger than that of Anopheles gambiae with multiple gene-family expansions, including olfactory and gustatory receptors, salivary gland genes, and genes associated with xenobiotic detoxification.
Asunto(s)
Cromosomas/genética , Culex/genética , Genes de Insecto , Genoma , Análisis de Secuencia de ADN , Aedes/genética , Animales , Anopheles/genética , Mapeo Cromosómico , Culex/clasificación , Culex/fisiología , Elementos Transponibles de ADN , Proteínas de Insectos/genética , Proteínas de Insectos/fisiología , Insectos Vectores/genética , Datos de Secuencia Molecular , Familia de Multigenes , Filogenia , Receptores Odorantes/genética , RetroelementosRESUMEN
VectorBase (http://www.vectorbase.org) is an NIAID-funded Bioinformatic Resource Center focused on invertebrate vectors of human pathogens. VectorBase annotates and curates vector genomes providing a web accessible integrated resource for the research community. Currently, VectorBase contains genome information for three mosquito species: Aedes aegypti, Anopheles gambiae and Culex quinquefasciatus, a body louse Pediculus humanus and a tick species Ixodes scapularis. Since our last report VectorBase has initiated a community annotation system, a microarray and gene expression repository and controlled vocabularies for anatomy and insecticide resistance. We have continued to develop both the software infrastructure and tools for interrogating the stored data.
Asunto(s)
Vectores Artrópodos/genética , Culicidae/genética , Bases de Datos Genéticas , Aedes/genética , Animales , Anopheles/genética , Culex/genética , Culicidae/metabolismo , Perfilación de la Expresión Génica , Genoma de los Insectos , Genómica , Ixodes/genética , Pediculus/genética , Vocabulario ControladoRESUMEN
We present a draft sequence of the genome of Aedes aegypti, the primary vector for yellow fever and dengue fever, which at approximately 1376 million base pairs is about 5 times the size of the genome of the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae. Nearly 50% of the Ae. aegypti genome consists of transposable elements. These contribute to a factor of approximately 4 to 6 increase in average gene length and in sizes of intergenic regions relative to An. gambiae and Drosophila melanogaster. Nonetheless, chromosomal synteny is generally maintained among all three insects, although conservation of orthologous gene order is higher (by a factor of approximately 2) between the mosquito species than between either of them and the fruit fly. An increase in genes encoding odorant binding, cytochrome P450, and cuticle domains relative to An. gambiae suggests that members of these protein families underpin some of the biological differences between the two mosquito species.
Asunto(s)
Aedes/genética , Genoma de los Insectos , Insectos Vectores/genética , Aedes/metabolismo , Animales , Anopheles/genética , Anopheles/metabolismo , Arbovirus , Secuencia de Bases , Elementos Transponibles de ADN , Dengue/prevención & control , Dengue/transmisión , Drosophila melanogaster/genética , Femenino , Genes de Insecto , Humanos , Proteínas de Insectos/genética , Insectos Vectores/metabolismo , Masculino , Proteínas de Transporte de Membrana/genética , Datos de Secuencia Molecular , Familia de Multigenes , Estructura Terciaria de Proteína/genética , Análisis de Secuencia de ADN , Caracteres Sexuales , Procesos de Determinación del Sexo , Especificidad de la Especie , Sintenía , Transcripción Genética , Fiebre Amarilla/prevención & control , Fiebre Amarilla/transmisiónRESUMEN
VectorBase (http://www.vectorbase.org/) is a web-accessible data repository for information about invertebrate vectors of human pathogens. VectorBase annotates and maintains vector genomes providing an integrated resource for the research community. Currently, VectorBase contains genome information for two organisms: Anopheles gambiae, a vector for the Plasmodium protozoan agent causing malaria, and Aedes aegypti, a vector for the flaviviral agents causing Yellow fever and Dengue fever.
Asunto(s)
Aedes/genética , Anopheles/genética , Bases de Datos Genéticas , Genoma de los Insectos , Insectos Vectores/genética , Animales , Secuencia de Bases , Secuencia Conservada , Genómica , Humanos , Internet , Interfaz Usuario-ComputadorRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: The recent completion of the Drosophila melanogaster genomic sequence to high quality and the availability of a greatly expanded set of Drosophila cDNA sequences, aligning to 78% of the predicted euchromatic genes, afforded FlyBase the opportunity to significantly improve genomic annotations. We made the annotation process more rigorous by inspecting each gene visually, utilizing a comprehensive set of curation rules, requiring traceable evidence for each gene model, and comparing each predicted peptide to SWISS-PROT and TrEMBL sequences. RESULTS: Although the number of predicted protein-coding genes in Drosophila remains essentially unchanged, the revised annotation significantly improves gene models, resulting in structural changes to 85% of the transcripts and 45% of the predicted proteins. We annotated transposable elements and non-protein-coding RNAs as new features, and extended the annotation of untranslated (UTR) sequences and alternative transcripts to include more than 70% and 20% of genes, respectively. Finally, cDNA sequence provided evidence for dicistronic transcripts, neighboring genes with overlapping UTRs on the same DNA sequence strand, alternatively spliced genes that encode distinct, non-overlapping peptides, and numerous nested genes. CONCLUSIONS: Identification of so many unusual gene models not only suggests that some mechanisms for gene regulation are more prevalent than previously believed, but also underscores the complex challenges of eukaryotic gene prediction. At present, experimental data and human curation remain essential to generate high-quality genome annotations.
