Time-Dependent Transcriptional Changes in Axenic Giardia duodenalis Trophozoites

Giardia duodenalis is the most common gastrointestinal protozoan parasite of humans and a significant contributor to the global burden of both diarrheal disease and post-infectious chronic disorders. Although G. duodenalis can be cultured axenically, significant gaps exist in our understanding of the molecular biology and metabolism of this pathogen. The present study employed RNA sequencing to characterize the mRNA transcriptome of G. duodenalis trophozoites in axenic culture, at log (48 h of growth), stationary (60 h), and declining (96 h) growth phases. Using ~400-times coverage of the transcriptome, we identified 754 differentially transcribed genes (DTGs), mainly representing two large DTG groups: 438 that were down-regulated in the declining phase relative to log and stationary phases, and 281 that were up-regulated. Differential transcription of prominent antioxidant and glycolytic enzymes implicated oxygen tension as a key factor influencing the transcriptional program of axenic trophozoites. Systematic bioinformatic characterization of numerous DTGs encoding hypothetical proteins of unknown function was achieved using structural homology searching. This powerful approach greatly informed the differential transcription analysis and revealed putative novel antioxidant-coding genes, and the presence of a near-complete two-component-like signaling system that may link cytosolic redox or metabolite sensing to the observed transcriptional changes. Motif searching applied to promoter regions of the two large DTG groups identified different putative transcription factor-binding motifs that may underpin global transcriptional regulation. This study provides new insights into the drivers and potential mediators of transcriptional variation in axenic G. duodenalis and provides context for static transcriptional studies.