Background Toxocara canis is a cosmopolitan parasite with a significant adverse impact on the health of humans and animals. The spleen is a major immune organ that plays essential roles in protecting the host against various infections. However, its role in T. canis infection has not received much attention. Methods We performed sequencing-based transcriptome profiling of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) and messenger RNA (mRNA) expression in the spleen of Beagle puppies at 24 h post-infection (hpi), 96 hpi and 36 days post-infection (dpi). Deep sequencing of RNAs isolated from the spleen of six puppies (three infected and three control) at each time point after infection was conducted. Results Our analysis revealed 614 differentially expressed (DE) lncRNAs and 262 DEmRNAs at 24 hpi; 726 DElncRNAs and 878 DEmRNAs at 96 hpi; and 686 DElncRNAs and 504 DEmRNAs at 36 dpi. Of those, 35 DElncRNA transcripts and 11 DEmRNAs were detected at all three time points post-infection. Many DE genes were enriched in immune response, such as ifit1, ifit2 and rorc. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analysis revealed that some genes (e.g. prkx and tnfrsf11a) were involved in the T cell receptor signaling pathway, calcium signaling pathway, Ras signaling pathway and NF-κB signaling pathway. Conclusions The findings of this study show marked alterations in the expression profiles of spleen lncRNAs and mRNAs, with possible implications in the pathophysiology of toxocariasis. Graphical Abstract

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Toxocara canis is a neglected roundworm, which can cause debilitating disease in dogs and humans worldwide. Serum is an excellent material for monitoring the occurrence of many diseases. However, no information is available on the expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) in the serum of dogs infected with T. canis. In this study, RNA-seq analysis was performed to identify the serum miRNA profiles in Beagle dogs infected with T. canis at different stages of infection. A total of 3, 25 and 25 differently expressed miRNAs (DEmiRNAs) were identified in dog serum at 24 h post-infection (hpi), 10 days post-infection (dpi) and 36 dpi, respectively, such as cfa-let-7g, cfa-miR-16, cfa-miR-92b, cfa-miR-93, cfa-miR-122, cfa-miR-485 and cfa-miR-451. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis revealed that these miRNAs could regulate the pathways related to parasitic infectious diseases and immune system, such as amoebiasis, toxoplasmosis, platelet activation, IL-17 signaling pathway and chemokine signaling pathway. These results provide a foundation to explore the underlying regulatory role of miRNAs in definitive hosts after T. canis infection.

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is critical to the terrestrial ecosystem carbon cycle and global climate change. The carbon cycle model coupled with microbial processes can improve the projection of SOC. However, it remains unclear whether microbial models are superior to multiple terrestrial carbon cycle models and how large the simulation uncertainties of SOC are. Therefore, we simulate the spatial patterns of global SOC by the MIMICS (explicit nonlinear microbial carbon cycle model) and the DCC (implicit linear carbon cycle model), compare the SOC with that of the CMIP6 MME (multi-model ensemble) and the observation to obtain the uncertainties of SOC, and analyze the sensitivity of the parameters in the two models. The results show that the SOC simulated by the MIMICS is 1615.4 ± 54.3 PgC, which is higher than that of the DCC (668.5 ± 102.1 PgC), the CMIP6 MME (1443.7 ± 795.8 PgC), and the observation (1519.1 PgC). The SOC of the DCC and MIMICS are regulated by NPP, and that of DCC is more sensitive to climate, while that of MIMICS is mainly influenced by the Michaelis-Menten equation and microbial carbon use efficiency.We reveal the spatial patterns of uncertainty in global SOC simulated by the explicit and implicit microbial processes of multiple terrestrial carbon cycle models. Unfortunately, neither the DCC, the MIMICS nor the CMIP6 MME simulate SOC satisfactorily, especially in the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, and the simulation of SOC in this region needs to be improved.