pretation. First, mice and rats differ in their susceptibility to stress. This difference could influence their gene expression responses to stress. Although the current functional assessment revealed a comparable level of functional impact, the likelihood of a difference at the cellular level cannot be ruled out. Second, the total RNA concentrations of PubMed ID:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19854321 the mouse samples 
and rat sample were different, possibly due to the difference in the amounts of the tissues used for RNA extraction. This difference could affect the detection of low abundance genes. Third, the control conditions used in the mouse and rat RNA-sequencing analyses differed in the current study. For the rat study, the control ears were collected from animals that were not exposed to the noise, while for the mouse study, the control ears were those that were protected from the noise. Even with this protection, the control ears in the mouse experiments might still sustain a low level of noise stimulation, which, in turn, could affect the basal level of gene expression. Moreover, the systemic responses induced by exposure to one ear could affect the baseline expression of the genes in the other ear. Because of these confounding factors, our study focused on the BioPQQ biological activity similarity in the biological processes rather than the differences in the individual gene sets. Our study clearly demonstrates that even with the differences in the genes sets, the functional relevance associated with the differentially expressed genes is remarkably similar. Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Acknowledgments The authors thank Dr. Youyi Dong for his assistance in the data analyses. The authors also thank Jonathan Bard and Jennifer Jamison for their assistance in RNA-seq data collection and analysis. For instance, more than 1.3 billion people are infected with strongylids, such as Necator americanus and/or Ancylostoma duodenale, which feed on blood in the small intestine, causing adverse effects on human health, particularly in children. Other strongylids infect livestock and cause substantial production losses due to subclinical infections and clinical disease, with billions of dollars spent annually on treatments to control these worms. In addition to their socioeconomic impact, various strongylid nematodes have developed resistance against the main drug classes commonly used to treat the diseases that they cause. Therefore, there is a need to work towards new treatment or control methods. This quest should be facilitated by acquiring a deep understanding of the molecular biology and biochemistry of key representatives. O. dentatum is transmitted orally to the host and has a complex 3-week life cycle : eggs are excreted in host faeces; the firststage larva develops inside the egg to then hatch and moult through to the second- and third-stage larvae within a week; the infective L3s are then ingested by the host, exsheath and, after a histotrophic phase, develop through the fourthstage larvae to dioecious adults, which feed on nutrients in the large intestine. Because of its short life cycle and ability to develop in vitro for weeks through several moults, O. dentatum is a useful model system for profound investigations of fundamental biological processes in nematodes. What has been missing, however, is basic information on the genome and transcriptomes to underpin such explorations. Recent advances in the sequencing of the draft genomes and transcriptomes of select