MicroRNA and protein-coding transcripts in intestinal response to Anisakis simplex.

Anisakis simplex is one of the most prevalent parasitic nematodes (Nematoda) of marine organisms and is characterized by a complex life cycle. Humans can be accidental hosts for this parasitic species and therefore, A. simplex was acknowledged as biohazardous organism. The finding that nematodes can release extracellular vesicles (EVs), which are able to enter host cells, was the breakthrough discovery in parasite research. Although several approaches have been employed to study the biology of nematodes and their interactions with the host, the secretion of EVs by parasitic nematodes, as signal molecules, has been poorly studied. This prompted us to compare and identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and differentially expressed long non-coding RNAs (DELs) between, a) the transcriptome of host intestine cells (CACO-2) exposed to EVs isolated from A. simplex larvae to the transcriptome of cells cultured in the absence of vesicles (control) and b) the transcriptome of CACO-2 cells exposed directly to the L3 larvae of A. simplex to the transcriptome of cells cultured in the absence of parasite (control) Moreover, we identified microRNAs present in EVs of A. simplex larvae and linked them with genes which expression they could regulate. To meet this goal high-throughput sequencing (Illumina) and bioinformatics were employed.