Global Analysis of Small Non-Coding RNA Populations across Tissues in the Malaria Vector, <i>Anopheles gambiae</i>

• Main Authors: William Bart Bryant, Savanna Ray, Mary Katherine Mills
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-06-01
• Series: Insects
• Subjects: small non-coding RNA; piRNA; small RNAs; mosquito reproduction
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/11/7/406

Malaria is a major global health problem, where the anautogenous female mosquito <i>Anopheles gambiae </i>serves as a major vector. In order to combat this devastating disease, understanding mosquito physiology is paramount. Numerous studies in the vector field demonstrate that small non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) play essential roles in numerous aspects of mosquito physiology. While our previous miRNA annotation work demonstrated expression dynamics across differing tissues, miRNAs represented less than 20% of all small ncRNAs in our small RNA-Seq libraries. To this end, we systematically classified multiple small ncRNA groups across mosquito tissues. Here we (i) determined a new enriched-midgut miRNA, (ii) updated the piRNA annotation in ovaries with a genomic map of unique-mapping piRNAs, (iii) identified pan-tissue and tissue-enriched mRNA-derived small ncRNAs, and (iv) assessed AGO1- and AGO2- loading of candidate small ncRNAs. Continued research will broaden our view of small ncRNAs and greatly aide in our understanding on how these molecules contribute to mosquito physiology.