Transcriptome Analysis of the Entomopathogen Lagenidium gigantism

Transcriptome Analysis of the Entomopathogen Lagenidium gigantism

Lagenidium giganteum is an entomopathogenic oomycete which means that it parasitic towards insects. It is known to infect and kill mosquito larvae, meaning that L. giganteum could possibly be used in place of chemical insecticides. Mosquitoes can carry very deadly diseases which can be transmitted to dogs, birds, horses, and humans. Thus, it is important to control mosquito populations. In the past, mosquito populations have been controlled by chemical insecticides. Due to environmental issues caused by these insecticides and the fact that the mosquitoes have built up resistance, alternative insecticides, like using L. giganteum are being explored. In order to optimize the mosquito killing properties of this organism as an insecticide, an understanding of how it infects and kills mosquitoes is needed. This research project was conducted to find the pathogenic genes of L. giganteum. To find these genes, the transcriptome of the organism needed to be sequenced. Multiple samples of the organism L. giganteum were cultured in lab and used to extract RNA. Then the mRNA was isolated and transformed into cDNA. Expressed sequence tags were produced, allowing a gene to be found within a portion of DNA. These expressed sequence tags were screened for genes that had to do with the pathogenic properties of the organism L. giganteum. The idea behind discovering these specific genes is that with the knowledge of how these genes work, an alternative insecticide for mosquitoes can be discovered.