Draft genome sequences of Hirudo medicinalis and salivary transcriptome of three closely related medicinal leeches.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Salivary cell secretion (SCS) plays a critical role in blood feeding by medicinal leeches, making them of use for certain medical purposes even today.

Results

We annotated the Hirudo medicinalis genome and performed RNA-seq on salivary cells isolated from three closely related leech species, H. medicinalis, Hirudo orientalis, and Hirudo verbana. Differential expression analysis verified by proteomics identified salivary cell-specific gene expression, many of which encode previously unknown salivary components. However, the genes encoding known anticoagulants have been found to be expressed not only in salivary cells. The function-related analysis of the unique salivary cell genes enabled an update of the concept of interactions between salivary proteins and compon

SUBMITTER: Babenko VV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7191736 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature