Expression profiles of host miRNAs and circRNAs and ceRNA network during Toxoplasma gondii lytic cycle

Wang, Sha-Sha; Wang, Xiangwei; He, Jun-Jun; Zheng, Wen-Bin; Zhu, Xing-Quan; Elsheikha, Hany M; Zhou, Chun-Xue

Abstract

Toxoplasma gondii is an opportunistic protozoan parasite that is highly prevalent in the human population and can lead to adverse health consequences in immunocompromised patients and pregnant women. Noncoding RNAs, such as microRNAs (miRNAs) and circular RNAs (circRNAs), play important regulatory roles in the pathogenesis of many infections. However, the differentially expressed (DE) miRNAs and circRNAs implicated in the host cell response during the lytic cycle of T. gondii are unknown. In this study, we profiled the expression of miRNAs and circRNAs in human foreskin fibroblasts (HFFs) at different time points after T. gondii infection using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). We identified a total of 7, 7, 27, 45, 70, 148, 203, and 217 DEmiRNAs and 276, 355, 782, 1863, 1738, 6336, 1229, and 1680 DEcircRNAs at 1.5, 3, 6, 9, 12, 24, 36, and 48h post infection (hpi), respectively. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analyses revealed that the DE transcripts were enriched in immune response, apoptosis, signal transduction, and metabolism-related pathways. These findings provide new insight into the involvement of miRNAs and circRNAs in the host response to T. gondii infection.

Citation

Wang, S.-S., Wang, X., He, J.-J., Zheng, W.-B., Zhu, X.-Q., Elsheikha, H. M., & Zhou, C.-X. (2024). Expression profiles of host miRNAs and circRNAs and ceRNA network during Toxoplasma gondii lytic cycle. Parasitology Research, 123(2), Article 145. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-024-08152-x

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 31, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Feb 29, 2024
• Publication Date: Feb 29, 2024
• Deposit Date: Mar 3, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 5, 2024
• Journal: Parasitology Research
• Print ISSN: 0932-0113
• Electronic ISSN: 1432-1955
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 123
• Issue: 2
• Article Number: 145
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-024-08152-x
• Keywords: Toxoplasma gondii, circRNA, RNA-seq, Host–pathogen interaction, miRNA, Immune response
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/32097732
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00436-024-08152-x