Conservation of a microRNA cluster in parasitic nematodes and profiling of miRNAs in excretory-secretory products and microvesicles of Haemonchus contortus.

ABSTRACT: microRNAs are small non-coding RNAs that are important regulators of gene expression in a range of animals, including nematodes. We have analysed a cluster of four miRNAs from the pathogenic nematode species Haemonchus contortus that are closely linked in the genome. We find that the cluster is conserved only in clade V parasitic nematodes and in some ascarids, but not in other clade III species nor in clade V free-living nematodes. Members of the cluster are present in parasite excretory-secretory products and can be detected in the abomasum and draining lymph nodes of infected sheep, indicating their release in vitro and in vivo. As observed for other parasitic nematodes, H. contortus adult worms release extracellular vesicles (EV). Small RNA libraries were prepared from vesicle-enriched

SUBMITTER: Gu HY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5709059 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature