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Expression profiles and characterization of microRNAs responding to chitin in Arthrobotrys oligospora

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Abstract

Extracellular proteases, such as chitinases secreted by Arthrobotrys oligospora (A. oligospora), play a crucial role in the process of nematode infection. However, post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression involving microRNAs (miRNAs) in A. oligospora remains scarcely described. Hereto, transcriptome sequencing was carried out to analyze the expression profiles of chitin-responsive miRNAs in A. oligospora. Based on the RNA-seq data, the differential expression of miRNAs (DEmiRNAs) in response to chitin was screened, identified and characterized in A. oligospora. Meanwhile, the potential target genes were predicted by the online tools miRanda and Targetscan, respectively. Furthermore, the interaction of DEmiRNA with it’s target gene was validated by a dual-luciferase reporter assay system. Among 85 novel miRNAs identified, 25 miRNAs displayed significant differences in expression in A. oligospora in response to chitin. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis showed that the potential genes targeted by DEmiRNAs were enriched in the biological processes such as bio-degradation, extracellular components and cell cycle. KEGG analysis revealed that the target genes were mainly involved in Hippo, carbon and riboflavin metabolic pathway. Outstandingly, chitinase AOL_s00004g379, which is involved in the hydrolysis metabolic pathway of chitin, was confirmed to be a target gene of differential miR_70. These findings suggest that chitin-responsive miRNAs are involved in the regulation of cell proliferation, predator hyphae growth and chitinase expression through the mechanisms of post-transcriptional regulation, which provides a new perspective to the molecular mechanisms underlying miRNAs-mediated control of gene expression in A. oligospora.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the staff who provided technical support for this study.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation (No. 32060801, 32260888, 31460654) and Xinjiang Autonomous Region graduate innovation project (No. XJGRI2015038).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, North Street No.4, Shihezi, 832003, Xinjiang, China

    Ningxing Li, Yansen Sun, Lixiang Wei, Jiahua Zhang, Nengxiu Li, Dianming Sun, Jian Jiao, Yufei Zuo, Ruobing Li, Jun Qiao & Qingling Meng

  2. State key laboratory of sheep genetic improvement and healthy breeding, Institute of Animal Science and Veterinary Research, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural and Reclamation Science, Shihezi, 832000, Xinjiang, China

    Yucheng Liu

  3. State key laboratory of veterinary etiological biology, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, 730046, Gansu, China

    Xuepeng Cai

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  1. Ningxing Li
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Contributions

N.-X. L.: Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing—original draft. Y.-S.S., L.-X. W. and Y.-C. L.: Resources, Investigation. Y.-H.L. and J.-H.Z.: Formal analysis, Writing—original draft. N.-X.L.: and D.-M.S.: Data analysis and discussion. J.J. and Y.-F.Z. and R.-B.L.: Validation, Software. J.Q., X.-P.C. and Q.-L.M.: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition. J.Q. and Q.-L.M.: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Writing—review & editing. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jun Qiao or Qingling Meng.

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Li, N., Sun, Y., Liu, Y. et al. Expression profiles and characterization of microRNAs responding to chitin in Arthrobotrys oligospora. Arch Microbiol 206, 220 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-024-03949-x

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