Sex-biased expression of microRNAs in Schistosoma mansoni
Schistosomiasis is an important neglected tropical disease caused by digenean helminth parasites of the genus Schistosoma. Schistosomes are unusual in that they are dioecious and the adult worms live in the blood system. MicroRNAs play crucial roles during gene regulation and are likely to be import...
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Published in | PLoS neglected tropical diseases Vol. 7; no. 9; p. e2402 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
United States
Public Library of Science
01.09.2013
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Schistosomiasis is an important neglected tropical disease caused by digenean helminth parasites of the genus Schistosoma. Schistosomes are unusual in that they are dioecious and the adult worms live in the blood system. MicroRNAs play crucial roles during gene regulation and are likely to be important in sex differentiation in dioecious species. Here we characterize 112 microRNAs from adult Schistosoma mansoni individuals, including 84 novel microRNA families, and investigate the expression pattern in different sexes. By deep sequencing, we measured the relative expression levels of conserved and newly identified microRNAs between male and female samples. We observed that 13 microRNAs exhibited sex-biased expression, 10 of which are more abundant in females than in males. Sex chromosomes showed a paucity of female-biased genes, as predicted by theoretical evolutionary models. We propose that the recent emergence of separate sexes in Schistosoma had an effect on the chromosomal distribution and evolution of microRNAs, and that microRNAs are likely to participate in the sex differentiation/maintenance process. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Conceived and designed the experiments: AM SGJ MR. Performed the experiments: AM AK JHLH AME. Analyzed the data: AM AK MR SGJ. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: AME DR. Wrote the paper: AM SGJ MR. Current address: School of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong, China. The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. |
ISSN: | 1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 |
DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pntd.0002402 |