Preprint Communication Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

De novo Transcriptome Assembly and Annotation of Liver and Brain Tissues of New Zealand brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula): Transcriptome Diversity after Decades of Population Control

Arsalan Emami-Khoyi
* ORCID logo ,
Shilpa Parbhu
ORCID logo ,
James Ross
ORCID logo ,
Elaine Murphy
,
Jennifer Bothwell
,
Daniela Monsanto
,
Bettine Van Vuuren
,
Peter Teske
,
Adrian Paterson
*
Version 1 : Received: 27 February 2020 / Approved: 28 February 2020 / Online: 28 February 2020 (11:49:29 CET)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Emami-Khoyi, A.; Parbhu, S.P.; Ross, J.G.; Murphy, E.C.; Bothwell, J.; Monsanto, D.M.; Vuuren, B.J.; Teske, P.R.; Paterson, A.M. De Novo Transcriptome Assembly and Annotation of Liver and Brain Tissues of Common Brushtail Possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) in New Zealand: Transcriptome Diversity after Decades of Population Control. Genes 2020, 11, 436. Emami-Khoyi, A.; Parbhu, S.P.; Ross, J.G.; Murphy, E.C.; Bothwell, J.; Monsanto, D.M.; Vuuren, B.J.; Teske, P.R.; Paterson, A.M. De Novo Transcriptome Assembly and Annotation of Liver and Brain Tissues of Common Brushtail Possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) in New Zealand: Transcriptome Diversity after Decades of Population Control. Genes 2020, 11, 436.

Abstract

The New Zealand brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula), introduced from Australia in the 1850s, is an invasive species that is widespread throughout New Zealand and forms the largest self-sustained reservoir of bovine tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis) in the wild. Conservation and agricultural authorities regularly apply a series of population control measures to suppress brushtail possum populations. The evolutionary consequence of more than half a century of intensive population control operations on the species genomic diversity and population structure is hindered by a paucity of available genomic resources for the species. This study is the first to characterise the functional content and diversity of brushtail possum liver and brain cerebral cortex transcriptomes. Raw sequences from hepatic cells and cerebral cortex were assembled into 58,001 and 64,735 transcripts in hepatic cells and cerebral cortex, respectively. Functional annotation and polymorphism assignment of the assembled transcripts demonstrated a considerable level of variation in the core metabolic pathways that represent potential targets for selection pressure exerted by chemical toxicants. This study suggests that the brushtail possum population in New Zealand harbours considerable levels of variation in metabolic pathways that could potentially promote the development of tolerance against chemical toxicants.

Keywords

De novo transcriptome assembly; brushtail possums; liver; brain cerebral cortex; drug and xenobiotic metabolism; chemical toxicants

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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