Evidence of putative non-coding RNAs from Leishmania untranslated regions

Publication date: Available online 3 April 2017 Source:Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology Author(s): Felipe Freitas de Castro, Patricia de Cássia Ruy, Karina Nogueira Zeviani, Ramon de Freitas Santos, Juliano Simões Toledo, Angela Kaysel Cruz Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are regulatory elements present in a wide range of organisms, including trypanosomatids. ncRNAs transcribed from the untranslated regions (UTRs) of coding genes have been described in the transcriptomes of several eukaryotes, including Trypanosoma brucei. To uncover novel putative ncRNAs in two Leishmania species, we examined a L. major cDNA library and a L. donovani non-polysomal RNA library. Using a combination of computational analysis and experimental approaches, we classified 26 putative ncRNA in L. major, of these, 5 arising from intergenic regions and 21 from untranslated regions. In L. donovani, we classified 37 putative ncRNAs, of these, 7 arising from intergenic regions, and 30 from UTRs. Our results suggest, for the first time, that UTR-transcripts may be a common feature in the eukaryote Leishmania similarly to those previously shown in T. brucei and other eukaryotes. Graphical abstract
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - Category: Parasitology Source Type: research