Identification of Dirofilaria immitis miRNA using illumina deep sequencing
Published: 2013
Abstract:
The heartwormDirofilaria immitisis 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 ofD. immitiswith 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 ofD. immitisof 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 theBrugia malayigenome. 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 inD. 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.
