Correlation Between Effector Gene Expression Targeted by lncRNAs in the Oomycete Fish Pathogen, Saprolegnia parasitica

Abstract

Saprolegniasis caused by Saprolegnia parasitica leads to significant economic losses in the aquaculture industry worldwide. Effector proteins secreted by pathogens are key molecules involved in their pathogenicity and long non-coding lncRNAs (lncRNAs) act as regulators in these processes. However, little is known about the lncRNAs and effector proteins in S. parasitica. Here, we first identified 1027 lncRNAs during the developmental stages and infection process of S. parasitica. Compared with mRNAs, these lncRNAs had shorter sequences and exon lengths and lower expression levels. In addition, their sequence conservation among other oomycete species was also low. The S. parasitica lncRNAs were characterized according to developmental stage and infection time point. We also identified effector proteins using a computational pipeline. In total, 131 S. parasitica effector proteins were identified and classified into 34 families. The 47 genes encoding effector genes were neighbors of 39 lncRNAs, and there was a correlation between the transcription level of lncRNAs and their neighboring genes. Gain- and loss-of-function experiments revealed that lncRNA8375.2 promoted the expression of a neighboring effector gene, SpCAP. Our results provide new data on S. parasitica lncRNAs and effector proteins, and provide insights into the lncRNA-effector module involved in S. parasitica.