关键词: 埃及伊蚊, WGCNA, 共表达模式, 转录组, hub基因

Abstract: 【Aim】 To explore the co-expression patterns of genes in different tissues of Aedes aegypti by using weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). 【Methods】 Paired sequencing data of representative nine adult tissues (antenna and brain of female and male, proboscis, maxillary palp and ovary of female, and foreleg, midleg, hindleg and abdominal tip of male) were selected from the transcriptome data of different tissues of A. aegypti in the NCBI SRA database. After removing missing values and calculating variance, 5 000 genes with the highest variance were chosen, and the WGCNA package in R software was used to establish the gene co-expression networks in different adult tissues of A. aegypti and divide modules. Then the clusterProfiler package was used to conduct GO (Gene Ontology) and KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) enrichment analysis of the genes in the tissue-specific modules, and CytoHubba plug-in in Cytoscape software was adopted to screen the hub genes in co-expression modules. 【Results】 A total of 11 gene co-expression modules in different adult tissues of A. aegypti were identified, and one specific expression module was identified in every tissue of the antenna, proboscis, ovary and maxillary palp of female adult, and the brain and abdominal tip of male adult. There was no specific expression module in tissues of the foreleg, midleg and hindleg of male adults. Genes in six tissue-specific expression modules were annotated to biological functions of the corresponding tissues. Among them, genes in the female antenna specific green module have functions such as odor binding and olfactory receptor activity. Genes in the female proboscis specific purple module have functions such as serine-type endopeptidase activity and serine hydrolase activity. Genes in the male brain specific blue module play a major role in regulation of biological process, signal transduction, and nervous system processes. The hub genes with high connectivity in selected tissue-specific modules, including AAEL010426, AAEL002896, AAEL002600, AAEL000961, AAEL007784 and AAEL006429, were identified by using CytoHubba. 【Conclusion】 In this study, based on the transcriptome data of different tissues of A. aegypti we discovered many important co-expressed gene modules by using the WGCNA method. The results provide new ideas and a method basis for the analysis of mosquito gene co-expression patterns and have reference value for exploring the unique gene resource information and bioinformatical studies of functional genes in different tissues of mosquitoes.

Key words:  Aedes aegypti; WGCNA, co-expression pattern, transcriptome, hub gene