Comparative and systems analyses of Leishmania spp. non-coding RNAs through developmental stagesShow others and affiliations
2025 (English)In: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, ISSN 1935-2727, E-ISSN 1935-2735, Vol. 19, no 5, article id e0013108
Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Leishmania spp. is the etiological agent of leishmaniases, neglected diseases that seek to be eradicated in the coming years. The life cycle of these parasites involves different host and stress environments. In recent years, many studies have shown that several protein-coding genes are directly involved with the development and host interactions. However, little is still known about the role of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) in life cycle progression. In this study, we aimed to identify the genomic structure and function of ncRNAs from Leishmania spp. and to get insights into the repertoire of ncRNAs (RNAome) of this protozoan genus. We studied 26 strains corresponding to 16 different species of Leishmania. Our RNAome analysis revealed the presence of several ncRNAs that are shared among different species, allowing us to differentiate between subgenera as well as between species that are canonically related to visceral leishmaniasis. We also studied co-expression relationships between coding genes and ncRNAs which in the amastigote developmental stage for Leishmania braziliensis and Leishmania donovani revealed the presence of miRNA-like transcripts co-expressed with several coding genes involved in starvation, survival and histone modification. This work represents the first effort to characterize the Leishmania ssp. RNAome, supporting further approaches to better understand the role of ncRNAs in gene regulation, infective process, and host-parasite interaction.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Public Library of Science (PLoS) , 2025. Vol. 19, no 5, article id e0013108
Keywords [en]
gene-expression, functional annotation, genome, sequence, transcription, repertoire, mechanisms, alignment, plants
National Category
Microbiology Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Research subject
Ecology, Microbiology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-139410DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0013108ISI: 001498131700001PubMedID: 40435329OAI: oai:DiVA.org:lnu-139410DiVA, id: diva2:1967833
2025-06-122025-06-122025-07-03Bibliographically approved