Fundação Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz, Instituto René Rachou, Grupo de Pesquisa em Biologia do Schistosoma mansoni e sua Interação com o Hospedeiro, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.
Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Laboratório de Bioinformática e Análises Moleculares, Patos de Minas, MG, Brasil.
Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz. 2020 Jul 1;115:e190498. doi: 10.1590/0074-02760190498. eCollection 2020.
Biomphalaria glabrata snails are widely distributed in schistosomiasis endemic areas like America and Caribe, displaying high susceptibility to infection by Schistosoma mansoni. After the availability of B. glabrata genome and transcriptome data, studies focusing on genetic markers and small non-coding RNAs have become more relevant. The small RNAs have been considered important through their ability to finely regulate the gene expression in several organisms, thus controlling the functions like cell growth, metabolism, and susceptibility/resistance to infection.
The present study aims on identification and characterisation of the repertoire of small non-coding RNAs in B. glabrata (Bgl-small RNAs).
By using small RNA sequencing, bioinformatics tools and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), we identified, characterised, and validated the presence of small RNAs in B. glabrata.
89 mature miRNAs were identified and five of them were classified as Mollusk-specific. When compared to model organisms, sequences of B. glabrata miRNAs showed a high degree of conservation. In addition, several target genes were predicted for all the mature miRNAs identified. Furthermore, piRNAs were identified in the genome of B. glabrata for the first time. The B. glabrata piRNAs showed strong conservation of uridine as first nucleotide at 5' end, besides adenine at 10th position. Our results showed that B. glabrata has diverse repertoire of circulating ncRNAs, several which might be involved in mollusk susceptibility to infection, due to their potential roles in the regulation of S. mansoni development.
Further studies are necessary in order to confirm the role of the Bgl-small RNAs in the parasite/host relationship thus opening new perspectives on interference of small RNAs in the organism development and susceptibility to infection.
玻利维亚圆田螺广泛分布于美洲和加勒比等血吸虫病流行地区，对曼氏血吸虫感染具有高度易感性。玻利维亚圆田螺基因组和转录组数据可用后，针对遗传标记和小非编码 RNA 的研究变得更为相关。小 RNA 因其能够在多个生物体中精细调控基因表达的能力而被认为非常重要，从而控制细胞生长、代谢和对感染的易感性/抗性等功能。
本研究旨在鉴定和描述玻利维亚圆田螺（Bgl-small RNAs）中的小非编码 RNA 谱。
通过使用小 RNA 测序、生物信息学工具和定量逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-qPCR），我们鉴定、描述和验证了玻利维亚圆田螺中小 RNA 的存在。
鉴定出 89 个成熟的 miRNA，其中 5 个被归类为软体动物特异性。与模式生物相比，玻利维亚圆田螺 miRNA 的序列显示出高度的保守性。此外，还预测了所有鉴定出的成熟 miRNA 的靶基因。此外，首次在玻利维亚圆田螺基因组中鉴定出 piRNA。玻利维亚圆田螺 piRNA 显示出 5'端第一个核苷酸强烈保守的尿嘧啶，以及 10 位的腺嘌呤。我们的研究结果表明，玻利维亚圆田螺具有多样化的循环 ncRNA 谱，其中一些可能参与了软体动物对感染的易感性，因为它们在调节曼氏血吸虫发育方面具有潜在作用。
为了确认 Bgl-small RNAs 在寄生虫/宿主关系中的作用，还需要进一步的研究，从而为干扰小 RNA 在生物发育和对感染的易感性方面开辟新的视角。
