title: Identification of Dirofilaria immitis miRNA using illumina deep sequencing.
abstract: The heartworm Dirofilaria immitis is the causative agent of cardiopulmonary dirofilariosis in dogs and cats, which also infects a wide range of wild mammals and humans. The complex life cycle of D. immitis with several developmental stages in its invertebrate mosquito vectors and its vertebrate hosts indicates the importance of miRNA in growth and development, and their ability to regulate infection of mammalian hosts. This study identified the miRNA profiles of D. immitis of zoonotic significance by deep sequencing. A total of 1063 conserved miRNA candidates, including 68 anti-sense miRNA (miRNA*) sequences, were predicted by computational methods and could be grouped into 808 miRNA families. A significant bias towards family members, family abundance and sequence nucleotides was observed. Thirteen novel miRNA candidates were predicted by alignment with the Brugia malayi genome. Eleven out of 13 predicted miRNA candidates were verified by using a PCR-based method. Target genes of the novel miRNA candidates were predicted by using the heartworm transcriptome dataset. To our knowledge, this is the first report of miRNA profiles in D. immitis, which will contribute to a better understanding of the complex biology of this zoonotic filarial nematode and the molecular regulation roles of miRNA involved. Our findings may also become a useful resource for small RNA studies in other filarial parasitic nematodes.
authors: Department of Parasitology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Sichuan Agricultural University, 625014, Ya'an, China. guangyou1963@yahoo.com.cn.
authors: Yan
authors: Y
authors: Fu
authors: Jingchao
authors: J
authors: Lan
authors: Xuhang
authors: X
authors: Wu
authors: Deying
authors: D
authors: Yang
authors: Zhihe
authors: Z
authors: Zhang
authors: Huaming
authors: H
authors: Nie
authors: Rong
authors: R
authors: Hou
authors: Runhui
authors: R
authors: Zhang
authors: Wanpeng
authors: W
authors: Zheng
authors: Yue
authors: Y
authors: Xie
authors: Ning
authors: N
authors: Yan
authors: Zhi
authors: Z
authors: Yang
authors: Chengdong
authors: C
authors: Wang
authors: Li
authors: L
authors: Luo
authors: Li
authors: L
authors: Liu
authors: Xiaobin
authors: X
authors: Gu
authors: Shuxian
authors: S
authors: Wang
authors: Xuerong
authors: X
authors: Peng
authors: Guangyou
authors: G
authors: Yang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004183:Dirofilaria immitis / Q000235:genetics*; D004184:Dirofilariasis / Q000469:parasitology; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000469:parasitology; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing / Q000662:veterinary; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA / Q000662:veterinary
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs