Abstract
BackgroundBaylisascaris schroederi is one of the most significant threats to the giant panda’s survival, responsible for half of the deaths reported from 2001 to 2005. MicroRNA (miRNA) has been identified as one of the key factors for gene regulations at the post-transcriptional level, and also considered as a potential control and treatment target against infectious diseases.MethodsThe present study investigated the miRNA profile of B. schroederi via high throughput sequencing and real-time quantitative PCR.ResultsA total of 18.07 million raw reads were obtained and 18.01 million were identified with high quality. By analysis of standard stem-loop structures, 108 miRNA candidates were predicted, including 60 known miRNAs and 48 novel ones. Target prediction revealed that the “chitinase” was the most abundant target with 483 sequences, and 263 targets were related to ovarian and egg development. The ribosomal protein related sequences occupied 449 sequences.ConclusionsPrevious studies have shown that some parasites secrete chitinases for exsheathment and/or for penetrating the peritrophic matrix of the host. It therefore seems that B. schroederi may be effectively regulated by miRNAs for development, invasion, and reproduction. Given that chitinases have been identified as important biological control agents for pests, identification of microRNAs in B. schroederi of the giant panda would provide useful information for the development of biological control strategies and/or vaccines against B. schroederi infection in the giant panda.
Highlights
Baylisascaris schroederi is one of the most significant threats to the giant panda’s survival, responsible for half of the deaths reported from 2001 to 2005
Baylisascaris spp. could infect animals and humans, resulting in visceral larval migrants (VLM), ocular larva migrants (OLM) and even neural larva migrants (NLM) that is normally fatal to some wild animals [13]
B. schroederi is the most common parasite in wild and captive giant pandas, and the VLM caused by B. schroederi infection was identified as the most significant threat to the survival of the giant panda, responsible for half of the deaths from 2001 to 2005 [8,14]
Summary
Baylisascaris schroederi is one of the most significant threats to the giant panda’s survival, responsible for half of the deaths reported from 2001 to 2005. The giant panda is famous for its cute appearance, important taxonomic status and valuable gene pool for genetic studies [4,5,6,7]. It is one of the most endangered species due. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs with a length of 18–25 nt which have been identified in various plants, animals and virus They play key regulatory functions for gene expression at the posttranscriptional level [15,16,17,18] and are considered as a potential treatment target against parasitic and other infectious diseases [19,20]. The miRNA expression profile of B. schroederi was investigated by high throughput sequencing technology and real-time quantitative PCR
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