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. 2021 Jun;148(7):857-870.
doi: 10.1017/S0031182021000469. Epub 2021 Mar 17.

De novo transcriptome reveals blood coagulation/antithrombin factors and infection mechanisms in Angiostrongylus cantonensis adult worms

Leandro de Mattos Pereira  1   2 , Milene Pereira Guimarães de Jezuz  1 , Amaranta Ramos Rangel  1 , Bruna Dalcin Baldasso  1 , Amanda Bungi Zaluski  3 , Carlos Graeff-Teixeira  1   4 , Alessandra Loureiro Morassutti  5   6
Affiliations

De novo transcriptome reveals blood coagulation/antithrombin factors and infection mechanisms in Angiostrongylus cantonensis adult worms

Leandro de Mattos Pereira et al. Parasitology. 2021 Jun.

Abstract

Angiostrongylus cantonensis is the main aetiological agent of eosinophilic meningoencephalitis in humans. Several outbreaks have been documented around the world, cementing its status as an emerging global public health concern. As a result, new strategies for the diagnosis, prophylaxis and treatment of cerebral angiostrongyliasis are urgently needed. In this study, we report on the de novo assembly of the A. cantonensis transcriptome, its full functional annotation and a reconstruction of complete metabolic pathways. All results are available at AngiostrongylusDB (http://angiostrongylus.lad.pucrs.br/admin/welcome). The aim of this study was to identify the active genes and metabolic pathways involved in the mechanisms of infection and survival inside Rattus norvegicus. Among 389 metabolic mapped pathways, the blood coagulation/antithrombin pathways of heparan sulphate/heparin are highlighted. Moreover, we identified genes codified to GP63 (leishmanolysin), CALR (calreticulin), ACE (peptidyl-dipeptidase A), myoglobin and vWD (von Willebrand factor type D domain protein) involved in the infection invasion and survival of the parasite. The large dataset of functional annotations provided and the full-length transcripts identified in this research may facilitate future functional genomics studies and provides a basis for the development of new techniques for the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of cerebral angiostrongyliasis.

Keywords: A. cantonensis transcriptome; Angiostrongylus cantonensis; anticoagulant/antithrombotic pathways; cerebral angiostrongyliasis; eosinophilic meningitis; functional annotation; molecular diagnostics.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare there are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

None
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Species distribution of predicted homologues in the transcriptome of Angiostrongylus cantonensis adult worms. Homologues were predicted using a BLASTX search against the Nr NCBI database at an E-value cut-off of 1.0 × 10−6. The top eight species with the most homologues are shown.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Functional categorization of transcripts of A. cantonensis based on GO annotations terms at level 2. Functional annotation was performed using Blast2GO. The transcriptome was functionally mapped to GO terms and annotated using an E-value-hit-filter of 1.0 × 106 with all other parameters as default.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Top 20 most abundant signatures identified in PFAM (A), SMART (B) and SUPERFAMILY databases (C). The most abundant functional domains identified in the coding predicted proteins of A. cantonensis are shown.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.
Pathways of glycosaminoglycan biosynthesis. Biosynthesis of heparan sulphate and heparin backbone. Red rectangles: enzymes annotated in A. cantonensis with KEGG Automatic Annotation Server (KAAS) composing the complete functional module of heparan sulphate and heparin backbone. Other rectangles (white): unidentified enzymes.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 5.
Metabolic pathways of Leishmania spp. Red rectangles: enzymes annotated in A. cantonensis with KEGG Automatic Annotation Server (KAAS) with reciprocal best-hit homologous in Leishmania spp.
Fig. 6.
Fig. 6.
Metabolic pathways of Trypanosoma cruzi. Red rectangles: enzymes annotated in A. cantonensis with KEGG Automatic Annotation Server (KAAS) with reciprocal best-hit homologous in T. cruzi.
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