What is it about?

The lumbricid earthworm Dendrobaena octaedra, widely distributed in the northern hemisphere, is a freeze tolerant worm species known for its ability to acclimate to the extreme cold condition. However, at the genome and transcriptome level, the species has not been explored to a great extent. The present study focuses on transcriptome analysis of Dendrobaena octaedra to identify and functionally annotate the potential transcripts and biological pathways associated with the freeze tolerance of the species.

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Why is it important?

Studies at the transcriptomic level can potentially increase the understanding of biochemical and physiological mechanisms underlying freeze-tolerance. However, only a few gene sequences of D. octaedra have been published so far. The main aim of our study was therefore to obtain a global transcriptome of cold acclimated D. octaedra which could increase our understanding of the mechanisms underlying freeze tolerance of the species. We therefore studied differential transcriptomic responses between cold acclimated and warm acclimated individuals. After de novo assembly and annotation of these two pools of individuals, our main aim was to identify key transcriptomic functions and pathways linked to physiological alterations associated with freeze tolerance.

Perspectives

The current study is the first detailed transcriptomic analysis of a freeze-tolerant earthworm species attempting to identify a number of freeze-responsive genes. In our study, 1.we have demonstrated the functional and pathway information associated with 2300 isotigs of earthworm, Dendrobaena octaedra, 2. quantified the Up and downregulation of 96 differentially expressed genes between the warm and cold acclimated worms and 3. analyzed the enrichment of the crucial functions and KEGG pathways during the cold stress condition. The differential expression analysis of cold and warm acclimated worms brought 43 novel/putative genes into the light. Further study on their functional and structural elucidation will be helpful to understand the molecular depth of the survival of the worm in the extreme cold condition.

Sayan Paul
Manonmaniam Sundaranar University

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Transcriptome sequencing, de novo assembly and annotation of the freeze tolerant earthworm, Dendrobaena octaedra, Gene Reports, December 2018, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.genrep.2018.10.010.
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