Identification and characterization of microRNAs in the zoonotic fluke Fasciolopsis buski.

Fasciolopsis buski is a food-borne zoonotic parasite which is transmitted by aquatic plants, with pigs and humans as the definitive hosts. The objective of the present study was to characterize the microRNA (miRNA) profiles of this parasite by Solexa deep sequencing and bioinformatic analysis. Approximately 12 million high-quality reads were obtained from adult F. buski. A total of 286 miRNA candidates were found and 24 miRNA candidates were conserved miRNAs in the miRBase database. Three novel miRNAs were identified and confirmed by stem-loop reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The miRNAs found in the present study belong to 13 families whose members showed high bias. The guanine (G) was the dominant nucleotide at the beginning and middle of the conserved miRNAs, particularly at the positions of 2nd, 6th, and 13th. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the miRNA profiles of F. buski, which would lay a foundation for further functional studies of miRNAs of F. buski.