In silico target network analysis of de novo-discovered, tick saliva-specific microRNAs reveals important combinatorial effects in their interference with vertebrate host physiology.

ABSTRACT: The hard tick Ixodes ricinus is an important disease vector whose salivary secretions mediate blood-feeding success on vertebrate hosts, including humans. Here we describe the expression profiles and downstream analysis of de novo-discovered microRNAs (miRNAs) expressed in I. ricinus salivary glands and saliva. Eleven tick-derived libraries were sequenced to produce 67,375,557 Illumina reads. De novo prediction yielded 67 bona fide miRNAs out of which 35 are currently not present in miRBase. We report for the first time the presence of microRNAs in tick saliva, obtaining furthermore molecular indicators that those might be of exosomal origin. Ten out of these microRNAs are at least 100 times more represented in saliva. For the four most expressed microRNAs from this subset, w

SUBMITTER: Hackenberg M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5513070 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature