Characterization of head transcriptome and analysis of gene expression involved in caste differentiation and aggression in Odontotermes formosanus (Shiraki).

Abstract

BackgroundThe subterranean termite Odontotermes formosanus (Shiraki) is a serious insect pest of trees and dams in China. To date, very little is known about genomic or transcriptomic data for caste differentiation and aggression in O. formosanus. Hence, studies on transcriptome and gene expression profiling are helpful to better understand molecular basis underlying caste differentiation and aggressive behavior in O. formosanus.Methodology and principal findingsUsing the Illumina sequencing, we obtained more than 57 million sequencing reads derived from the heads of O. formosanus. These reads were assembled into 116,885 unique sequences (mean size = 536 bp). Of the unigenes, 30,646 (26.22%) had significant similarity with proteins in the NCBI nonredundant protein database and Swiss-Prot database (E-valueConclusionsTo our knowledge, this is the first study to characterize the complete head transcriptome of a higher fungus-cultivating termite using high-throughput sequencing. Our study has provided the comprehensive sequence resources available for elucidating molecular basis underlying caste differentiation and aggressive behavior in O. formosanus.