Identification of highly expressed host microRNAs that respond to white spot syndrome virus infection in the Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei (Penaeidae)

Abstract

ABSTRACT. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are known to play an important role in regulating both adaptive and innate immunity. Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) is the most widely farmed crustacean species in the world. However, little is known about the role miRNAs play in shrimp immunity. To understand the impact of viral infection on miRNA expression in shrimp, we used high-throughput sequencing technology to sequence two small RNA libraries prepared from L. vannamei under normal and white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) challenged conditions. Approximately 19,312,189 and 39,763,551 raw reads corresponding to 17,414,787 and 28,633,379 high-quality mappable reads were obtained from the two libraries, respectively. Twelve conserved miRNAs and one novel miRNA that were highly expressed (>100 RPM) in L. vannamei were identified. Of the identified miRNAs, 8 were differentially expressed in response to the virus 4819 Identification of microRNAs in Litopenaeus vannamei©FUNPEC-RP www.funpecrp.com.br Genetics and Molecular Research 14 (2): 4818-4828 (2015) infection, of which 1 was upregulated and 7 were downregulated. The prediction of miRNA targets showed that the target genes of the differentially expressed miRNAs were related to immunity, apoptosis, and development functions. Our study provides the first characterization of L. vannamei miRNAs in response to WSSV infection, which will help to reveal the roles of miRNAs in the antiviral mechanisms of shrimp.

The identification and characteristics of salinity-related microRNAs in gills of Portunus trituberculatus

“…In animals, miRNAs regulate their target genes through mRNA destabilization and translational inhibition (Bushati and Cohen 2007). So far, miRNAs have been identified in a few aquatic crustacean species, and these were involved in regulation of oocyte meiosis , adaptive immunity Ou et al 2012;Zeng et al 2015), and drug response (ValenzuelaMiranda et al 2015). Previous reports have shown that some plant miRNAs respond to salinity stress and that some miRNA targets are salt stress-related genes (Xie et al 2014;Peng et al 2014;Frazier et al 2011).…”

Identification and characterization of intestine microRNAs and targets in red swamp crayfish, Procambarus clarkii infected with white spot syndrome virus

“…In some articles about crustaceans’ microRNA sequencing, D . pulex genome was often chosen as the reference to analyze sequencing results [ 2 , 7 , 14 , 15 ]. In present paper, the small RNA tags were mapped to the D .…”

A review on genome mapping of penaeid shrimps of commercial importance

“…The information pertaining to research on noncoding RNAs in the shrimp is very limited. Zeng et al (2015) carried out the work on identification of highly expressed host micro-RNAs that respond to WSSV infection in the shrimp L. vannamei.…”

“…Furthermore, they reported that among the total SNPs they analysed, some of them showed polymorphism which may be closely related to the mutation that affect the important traits such as resistance to diseases and reproductive performance. Zeng et al (2015) carried out the work on identification of highly expressed host micro-RNAs that respond to WSSV infection in the shrimp L. vannamei. Such information will be also useful in developing programmes aiming the genetic improvement of the aquaculture species.…”