title: Global characterization of microRNAs in Trichomonas gallinae.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Trichomonas gallinae is a protozoan parasite causing trichomonosis in many species of domestic poultry and birds world-wide. microRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs that play key roles in gene regulation. However, no miRNAs have been characterized from T. gallinae.
  
  
  METHODS
  Here, we investigated the global miRNA profile of this parasite by high throughput sequencing technology, bioinformatics platform analysis and quantitative RT-PCR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three miRNA candidates, with typical precursor stem-loop structures, were identified from 11.13 million raw sequencing reads. Three miRNAs, Tga-miR-1, Tga-miR-2 and Tga-miR-3 had no homologues in publically available miRNA databases, suggesting that they may be T. gallinae-specific. Tga-miR-2 and Tga-miR-3 occupied only one location each on the reference genome, while Tga-miR-1 was found at 3 locations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of the present study provided a sound basis for the further understanding of gene regulation in this parasite of animal health significance, with the potential to inform the development of novel control reagents and strategies and also inform a more in-depth understanding of the evolution of miRNAs.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730046, PR China. xuminjun@caas.cn.
authors.forename: Min-Jun
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Shen-Ben
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: Alasdair J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Nisbet
authors.forename: Jing-Hua
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Chang-Chun
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: Xing-Quan
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001715:Bird Diseases / Q000469:parasitology*; D010856:Columbidae / Q000469:parasitology*; D019295:Computational Biology; D018503:Genome, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics*; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D016053:RNA, Protozoan / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA / Q000662:veterinary; D014244:Trichomonas / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014245:Trichomonas Infections / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs; D016053:RNA, Protozoan