Differential expression of microRNA between normally developed and underdeveloped female worms of Schistosoma japonicum

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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Differential expression of microRNA between normally developed and underdeveloped female worms of Schistosoma japonicum Yu Han1, Jintao Feng1, Yuqi Ren1, Luobin Wu1,2, Hao Li1, Jinming Liu1 and Yamei Jin1* 

Abstract  Eggs produced by bisexual infected mature female worms (MF) of Schistosoma japonicum are important in the transmission of the parasite and responsible for the pathogenesis of schistosomiasis. The single-sex infected female worms (SF) cannot mature and do not produce normal eggs; also they do not induce severe damage to the host. In this study, the microRNA (miRNA) expression profiles of 25d MF and 25d SF were investigated through Solexa deep-sequencing technology to explore the developmental mechanisms of schistosome female worms. There were 36 differentially expressed miRNA, 20 up-regulated and 16 down-regulated found in MF/SF worms, including some development related miRNA such as bantam (ban), let-7, miR-124, miR-8, miR-1, miR-7. There were 166 target genes of up-regulated miRNA and 201 target genes of down-regulated miRNA after comparing the target gene prediction software results with RNA-Seq transcriptome results. Analysis of the target genes shows that different ones are involved in MF and SF worms in Gene Ontology terms, with a similar situation in KEGG. This observation indicates that different genes regulated by differentially expressed miRNA take part in MF and SF and lead to differential sexual status. This means that the sexual status of female worms is regulated by miRNA. Keywords:  Schistosoma japonicum, microRNA, deep-sequencing, differential expression, predicted target genes Introduction Schistosomiasis is an important helminth infection that mainly occurs in developing countries. It is endemic in 74 countries, with roughly 120 million individuals being severely affected [1]. No successful vaccine is currently available for this disease. Praziquantel is the only and most extensively used drug for treatment, but it is ineffective against young worms [2] and there are concerns that drug resistance to praziquantel may be developing [3]. Consequently, there is an urgent need to identify *Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Animal Parasitology, Ministry of Agriculture, No.518, Ziyue Road, Minhang District, Shanghai 200241, PR China Full list of author information is available at the end of the article

novel drug targets and/or develop alternative therapeutic strategies. In schistosomiasis, the severely pathological injuries to the final host are caused by the amounts of eggs produced by mature normally developed female worms (MF). These eggs are also responsible for the spread of the disease [4], but the underdeveloped female worms (SF) which come from single-sex infection cannot develop normally or produce normal eggs. So these single-sex infected worms (female or male) will not seriously damage the host, and will not induce the prevalence of schistosomiasi