Temporal transcriptomic changes in microRNAs involved in the host immune response and metabolism during Neospora caninum infection

Parasites & Vectors

Research

Shan-Shan Zhao¹  Jun-Ke Song¹  Jin-Ming Chen¹  De-Liang Tao¹  Ying-Ying Fan¹  Xin Yang¹  Jing-Yu Li¹  Guang-Hui Zhao¹  Qun Liu² 

[1] Department of Parasitology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University, 712100, Yangling, China;National Animal Protozoa Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agricultural University, 100193, Beijing, China;

关键词: Neospora caninum;    Caprine endometrial epithelial cells;    MicroRNA;    Expression;    RNA sequencing;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s13071-023-05665-9

 received in 2022-11-21, accepted in 2023-01-13,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundNeospora caninum infection is a major cause of abortion in cattle, which results in serious economic losses to the cattle industry. However, there are no effective drugs or vaccines for the control of N. caninum infections. There is increasing evidence that microRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in many physiological and pathological processes, and dysregulated expression of host miRNAs and the biological implications of this have been reported for infections by various protozoan parasites. However, to our knowledge, there is presently no published information on host miRNA expression during N. caninum infection.MethodsThe expression profiles of miRNAs were investigated by RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) in caprine endometrial epithelial cells (EECs) infected with N. caninum at 24 h post infection (pi) and 48 hpi, and the functions of differentially expressed (DE) miRNAs were predicted by Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses. The transcriptome data were validated by using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. One of the upregulated DEmiRNAs, namely chi-miR-146a, was selected to study the effect of DEmiRNAs on the propagation of N. caninum tachyzoites in caprine EECs.ResultsRNA-seq showed 18 (17 up- and one downregulated) and 79 (54 up- and 25 downregulated) DEmiRNAs at 24 hpi and 48 hpi, respectively. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis of 13 randomly selected DEmiRNAs (10 up- and three downregulated miRNAs) confirmed the validity of the RNA-seq data. A total of 7835 messenger RNAs were predicted to be potential targets for 66 DEmiRNAs, and GO and KEGG enrichment analysis of these predicted targets revealed that DEmiRNAs altered by N. caninum infection may be involved in host immune responses (e.g. Fc gamma R-mediated phagocytosis, Toll-like receptor signaling pathway, tumor necrosis factor signaling pathway, transforming growth factor-β signaling pathway, mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway) and metabolic pathways (e.g. lysine degradation, insulin signaling pathway, AMP-activated protein kinase signaling pathway, Rap1 signaling pathway, calcium signaling pathway). Upregulated chi-miR-146a was found to promote N. caninum propagation in caprine EECs.ConclusionsThis is, to our knowledge, the first report on the expression profiles of host miRNAs during infection with N. caninum, and shows that chi-miR-146a may promote N. caninum propagation in host cells. The novel findings of the present study should help to elucidate the interactions between host cells and N. caninum.Graphical Abstract

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023

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