Identification and expression profiling of microRNA sin Hymenolepis

MACCHIAROLI, N.; CUCHER, M.; KAMENETZKY, L.; YONES, C.; BUGNON, L.; BERRIMAN, M.; OLSON, P.; ROSENZVIT, M.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR PARASITOLOGY

ELSEVIER SCI LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2019

0020-7519

Tapeworms (cestodes) of the genus Hymenolepisare the causative agentsofhymenolepiasis, a zoonoticneglected disease. Hymenolepis nanaisthe most prevalent human tapeworm, especially affecting children. The genomesof Hymenolepismicrostoma and H. nana have been recently sequenced andassembled. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a class of small non-coding RNAs, are principleregulators of gene expression at the post-transcriptional level and areinvolved in many different biological processes. In previous work, weexperimentally identified miRNA genes in thecestodesEchinococcus,Taeniaand Mesocestoides.However, current knowledge about miRNAs in Hymenolepisis limited. In this work we described for the first time the expression profileof the miRNA complement in H. microstoma,anddiscovered miRNAs in H. nana. Wefound a reduced complement of 37 evolutionarily conserved miRNAs, putativelyreflecting their low morphological complexity and parasitic lifestyle. We founda high expression of a few miRNAs in the larval stage of H. microstoma that is conserved in other cestodes suggesting thatthese miRNAs may have important roles in development, survival and forhost-parasite interplay. We performed a comparative analysis of the identifiedmiRNAs across the Cestoda and showed that most of the miRNAs in Hymenolepisare located in intergenicregions implying that they are independently transcribed. We found a Hymenolepis-specific cluster composed ofthree members of the mir-36 family. Also, we found that one of the neighboringgenes of mir-10 was a Hox gene as in most bilaterial species. This studyprovides a valuable resource for further experimental research in cestodebiology that might lead to improved detection and control of these neglectedparasites. The comprehensive identification and expression analysis of Hymenolepis miRNAs can help to identifynovel biomarkers for diagnosis and/or novel therapeutic targets for the controlof hymenolepiasis.