In silico analysis of endogenous siRNAs associated transposable elements and NATs in Schistosoma japonicum reveals their putative roles during reproductive development

Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by trematode of the genus Schistosoma. Successful reproductive development is critical for the production of eggs, which are responsible for host pathology and disease dissemination. Endogenous small non-coding RNAs play important roles in many...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Parasitology research (1987) 2018-05, Vol.117 (5), p.1549-1558
Main Authors: Giri, Bikash Ranjan, Ye, Jiannan, Chen, Yongjun, Wei, Chaochun, Cheng, Guofeng
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adenosine
Antisense RNA
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Drug development
Eggs
Gene expression
Genetic aspects
Health aspects
Immunology
Medical Microbiology
Methods
Microbiology
Original Paper
Post-transcription
RNA sequencing
Schistosoma
Schistosomiasis
siRNA
Transposons
Tropical diseases
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by trematode of the genus Schistosoma. Successful reproductive development is critical for the production of eggs, which are responsible for host pathology and disease dissemination. Endogenous small non-coding RNAs play important roles in many biological processes such as protection against foreign pathogens, cell differentiation, and chromosomal stability by regulating target gene expression at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. In this study, we performed in silico analysis of endogenous small non-coding RNAs in different stages, and sex of S. japonicum focusing on endogenous small interfering RNAs (endo-siRNAs) generated from transposable elements (TEs) and natural antisense transcripts (NATs). Both total and unique siRNA populations show 18–30 nt in length, but the predominant size was 20 nt and the leading first base was adenosine. Sense TE-derived endo-siRNAs reads were higher than antisense reads at different relative positions of TEs, whereas no such difference was observed for NAT-derived endo-siRNAs. TE- and NAT-derived endo-siRNAs were more enriched in the male compared to female worms, with the higher relative expression in early phase of pairing. Putative targets of endo-siRNAs indicated more of them in males (106 and 66) than in females (6 and 23) for TE- and NAT-derived endo-siRNAs, respectively. Our preliminary study revealed vital role of endo-siRNAs during the reproductive development of S. japonicum and provide clues for putative novel targets to suppress worm reproduction and direction for effective anti-schistosomal drug development.
ISSN:0932-0113
1432-1955
DOI:10.1007/s00436-018-5830-x