title: Identification and profiling of microRNAs in two developmental stages of the model cestode parasite Mesocestoides corti.
abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a class of small non-coding RNAs, are key regulators of gene expression at post-transcriptional level and play essential roles in fundamental biological processes such as metabolism and development. The particular developmental characteristics of cestode parasites highlight the importance of studying miRNA gene regulation in these organisms. Here, we performed a comprehensive analysis of miRNAs in two developmental stages of the model cestode Mesocestoides corti. Using a high-throughput sequencing approach, we found transcriptional evidence of 42 miRNA loci in tetrathyridia larvae and strobilated worms. Tetrathyridium and strobilated worm-specific miRNAs were found, as well as differentialy expressed miRNAs between these developmental stages, suggesting miRNA regulation of stage-specific features. Moreover, it was shown that uridylation is a differential mechanism of post-transcriptional modification of M. corti miRNAs. The whole set of M. corti miRNAs represent 33 unique miRNA families, and confirm the remarkable loss of conserved miRNA families within platyhelminth parasites, reflecting their relatively low morphological complexity and high adaptation to parasitism. Overall, the presented results provide a valuable platform to studies aiming to identify and characterize novel miRNA-based molecular mechanisms of post-transcriptional gene regulation in cestodes, necessary for the elucidation of developmental aspects of the complex biology of these parasites.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Genômica Estrutural e Funcional, Centro de Biotecnologia (CBiot), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil; Laboratório de Biologia Molecular de Cestódeos, CBiot, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil; Programa de Pós-graduação em Biologia Celular e Molecular, CBiot, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Basika
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica (IMPaM), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA)-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET), Paraguay 2155, Piso 13, CP 1121 Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Macchiaroli
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica (IMPaM), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA)-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET), Paraguay 2155, Piso 13, CP 1121 Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Marcela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cucher
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Biologia Molecular de Cestódeos, CBiot, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil; Programa de Pós-graduação em Genética e Biologia Molecular, Instituto de Biociências (IB), UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Espínola
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica (IMPaM), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA)-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET), Paraguay 2155, Piso 13, CP 1121 Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kamenetzky
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Biologia Molecular de Cestódeos, CBiot, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil; Programa de Pós-graduação em Genética e Biologia Molecular, Instituto de Biociências (IB), UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil; Departamento de Biologia Molecular e Biotecnologia, IB, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Arnaldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zaha
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica (IMPaM), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA)-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET), Paraguay 2155, Piso 13, CP 1121 Buenos Aires, Argentina. Electronic address: mrosenzvit@fmed.uba.ar.
authors.forename: Mara
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rosenzvit
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Genômica Estrutural e Funcional, Centro de Biotecnologia (CBiot), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil; Laboratório de Biologia Molecular de Cestódeos, CBiot, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil; Programa de Pós-graduação em Biologia Celular e Molecular, CBiot, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil; Departamento de Biologia Molecular e Biotecnologia, IB, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. Electronic address: henrique@cbiot.ufgrs.br.
authors.forename: Henrique B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Ferreira
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002590:Cestode Infections / Q000469:parasitology; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D005260:Female; D000072669:Gene Editing; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D007814:Larva; D008018:Life Cycle Stages / Q000235:genetics*; D008645:Mesocestoides / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development*; D051379:Mice; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D059372:Nucleotide Motifs; D056510:Position-Specific Scoring Matrices; D012323:RNA Processing, Post-Transcriptional; D018510:RNA, Helminth / Q000235:genetics*; D051381:Rats
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs; D018510:RNA, Helminth
keywords: Cestoda; Differential expression; Platyhelminthes; Strobilation; miRNAs; sRNA-seq