Ascosphaera apis is a widespread fungal pathogen of honeybee larvae, which causes heavy losses in apiculture. To date, knowledge about non-coding RNA (ncRNA) including circular RNA (circRNA) in A. apis is lacking. In this study, A. apis mycelia and spores were sequenced using RNA-seq technology. A total of 551 circRNAs were predicted on the basis of bioinformatic analyses, and most of the circRNAs were 200-600 bp in length, which were different from animal and plant circRNAs. In addition, the expression of six circRNAs in A. apis were confirmed using divergent and convergent PCR. Moreover, circRNA-microRNA regulation networks in A. apis were constructed, and further investigation showed that A. apis circRNAs could regulate gene expression by competitively binding miRNAs. GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses of the miRNAs target genes of circRNAs demonstrated that these A. apis circRNAs are likely to play key roles in metabolism, environmental response and gene expression.
Keywords: Ascosphaera apis; Fungal pathogen; Honeybee larvae; circRNA.
Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.