title: Angiostrongylus cantonensis: identification and characterization of microRNAs in male and female adults.
abstract: Angiostrongylus cantonensis causes eosinophilic meningitis and eosinophilic pleocytosis in humans and is of significant socio-economic importance globally. microRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous small non-coding RNAs that play crucial roles in gene expression regulation, cellular function and defense, homeostasis and pathogenesis. They have been identified in a diverse range of organisms. The objective of this study was to determine and characterize miRNAs of female and male adults of A. cantonensis by Solexa deep sequencing. A total of 8,861,260 and 10,957,957 high quality reads with 20 and 23 conserved miRNAs were obtained in females and males, respectively. No new miRNA sequence was found. Nucleotide bias analysis showed that uracil was the prominent nucleotide, particularly at positions of 1, 10, 14, 17 and 22, approximately at the beginning, middle and the end of the conserved miRNAs. To our knowledge, this is the first report of miRNA profiles in A. cantonensis, which may represent a new platform for studying regulation of genes and their networks in A. cantonensis.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Parasite and Vector Biology, Ministry of Health, WHO Collaborating Center for Malaria, Schistosomiasis and Filariasis, Shanghai 200025, PR China.
authors.forename: Mu-Xin
authors.initials: MX
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ai
authors.forename: Min-Jun
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Ren-Li
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Shao-Hong
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Yong-Nian
authors.initials: YN
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Yu-Chun
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Li-Guang
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Ling-Ling
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xing-Quan
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Jia-Xu
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D017185:Angiostrongylus cantonensis / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D019295:Computational Biology; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D018510:RNA, Helminth / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D051381:Rats; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D012737:Sex Factors
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs; D018510:RNA, Helminth