title: Characterization of the small RNA content of Trypanosoma cruzi extracellular vesicles.
abstract: A growing body of evidence in mammalian cells indicates that secreted vesicles can be used to mediate intercellular communication processes by transferring various bioactive molecules, including mRNAs and microRNAs. Based on these findings, we decided to analyze whether Trypanosoma cruzi-derived extracellular vesicles contain RNA molecules and performed a deep sequencing and genome-wide analysis of a size-fractioned cDNA library (16-40nt) from extracellular vesicles secreted by noninfective epimastigote and infective metacyclic trypomastigote forms. Our data show that the small RNAs contained in these extracellular vesicles originate from multiple sources, including tRNAs. In addition, our results reveal that the variety and expression of small RNAs are different between parasite stages, suggesting diverse functions. Taken together, these observations call attention to the potential regulatory functions that these RNAs might play once transferred between parasites and/or to mammalian host cells.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiologia, Imunologia e Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo SP 04023-062, Brazil; Border Biomedical Research Center, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA.
authors.forename: Ethel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bayer-Santos
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiologia, Imunologia e Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo SP 04023-062, Brazil.
authors.forename: Fábio Mitsuo
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.affiliation: Centro de Pesquisas Rene Rachou, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Minas Gerais, MG 30190-002, Brazil.
authors.forename: Jeronimo Conceição
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Ruiz
authors.affiliation: Border Biomedical Research Center, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA. Electronic address: icalmeida@utep.edu.
authors.forename: Igor C
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Almeida
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiologia, Imunologia e Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo SP 04023-062, Brazil. Electronic address: jose.franco@unifesp.br.
authors.forename: José Franco
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: da Silveira
mesh_terms: D005110:Extracellular Space / Q000235:genetics; D015723:Gene Library; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D016053:RNA, Protozoan; D012343:RNA, Transfer / Q000235:genetics; D022161:Transport Vesicles / Q000235:genetics*; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D016053:RNA, Protozoan; D012343:RNA, Transfer
keywords: Comparative transcriptome; Extracellular vesicles; High-throughput data analysis; Small noncoding RNA; Trypanosoma cruzi