Insight into Hyalomma anatolicum biology by comparative genomics analyses

Abstract

Hyalomma anatolicum is an obligatory blood-sucking ectoparasite and contributes to the transmission of Crimean–Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus, Theileria spp. and Babesia spp. Progress in exploring the adaptive strategy of this ectoparasite and developing tools to fight it has been hindered by the lack of a complete genome. Herein, we assembled the genome using diverse sources of data from multiple sequencing platforms and annotated the 1.96 Gb genome of Hy. anatolicum. Comparative genome analyses and the predicted protein encoding genes reveal unique facets of this genome, including gene family expansion associated with blood feeding and digestion, multi-gene families involved in detoxification, a great number of neuropeptides and corresponding receptors regulating tick growth, development, and reproduction, and glutathione S-transferase genes playing roles in insecticide resistance and detoxification of multiple xenobiotic factors. This high quality reference genome provides fundamental data for obtaining insights into a variety of aspects of tick biology and developing novel strategies to fight notorious tick vectors of human and animal pathogens.