The Core Human MicroRNAs Regulated by Toxoplasma gondii

Abstract

Background: Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is an intracellular zoonotic protozoan parasite known to effectively modulate the host system for its survival. A large number of microRNAs (miRNAs) regulated by different strains of T. gondii in diverse types of host cells/tissues/organs have been reported across multiple studies.

Objective: We aimed to decipher the complexity of T. gondii regulated spectrum of miRNAs to derive a set of core miRNAs central to different strains of T. gondii infection in diverse human cell lines.

Methods: We first assembled miRNAs hat are regulated by T. gondii altered across the various assortment of infections and time points of T. gondii infection in multiple cell types. For these assembled datasets, we employed specific criteria to filter the core miRNAs regulated by T. gondii. Subsequently, accounting for the spectrum of miRNA-mRNA target combinations, we applied a novel confidence criterion to extract their core experimentally-validated mRNA targets in human cell systems.

Results: This analysis resulted in the extraction of 74 core differentially regulated miRNAs and their 319 high-confidence mRNA targets. Based on these core miRNA-mRNA pairs, we derived the central biological processes perturbed by T. gondii in diverse human cell systems. Further, our analysis also resulted in the identification of novel autocrine/paracrine signalling factors that could be associated with host response modulated by T. gondii.

Conclusion: The current analysis derived a set of core miRNAs, their targets, and associated biological processes fine-tuned by T. gondii for its survival within the invaded cells.

Keywords: Apicomplexan parasites; bioinformatics; miRNA-mRNA interaction; microRNA; regulatory network; toxoplasmosis.