DISCOVERY OF GENES ASSOCIATED WITH FENBENDAZOLE RESISTANCE IN ASCARIDS OF POULTRY USING TRANSCRIPTOMICS

Benzimidazile resistance is an emerging problem in ascarid parasites of poultry, however previously discovered resistance mechanisms have not been found in ascarids. Therefore, it is necesseary to investigate resistance in an ascarid specific model.My goal is to refine the draft genomes of A. dissimilis and H. gallinarum, as well as use transcriptomics, to identify genes associated with benzimidazole resistance by the identification of expression differences between resistant and sensitive populations after exposure to fenbendazole. I will leverage resistance and sensitive isolates of poultry ascarids to develop high quality genomes and transcriptomes that will enable differences between isolates to be identified and narrowed to specific candidate genes associated with resistance. Newly discovered genes will inform the development of diagnostics to measure resistance throughout poultry production systems, which will enable the development of new strategies to control the spread of resistant ascarid populations.