Authors
C Hill1; P McVeigh1; N J Marks1; A Mousley1; A G Maule1; 1 Queen's University Belfast Discussion
Fasciola hepatica is a globally important parasite that undermines both human and animal health. With the increasing prevalence of this parasite globally, together with reports of anthelmintic resistance in both human and veterinary infections, novel control measures are essential. Improved understanding of fundamental fluke biology is a pre-requisite for developing such measures. Here, we attempt to improve understanding of fluke development by profiling changes in the expression of micro (mi)RNAs (essential negative regulators of gene expression) in F. hepatica maintained in vitro. Exposure to chicken serum stimulates juvenile fluke to grow and develop in vitro; we have used Illumina RNAseq analysis to identify differentially expressed miRNAs between growing and non-growing fluke, and adult fluke recovered from mature ovine infections. Selecting a subset of six miRNAs for further analysis, we employed quantitative PCR (qPCR) to confirm that five of these were up-regulated during growth, whilst one miRNA remained stably expressed. We are currently investigating the functions of these miRNAs during growth in vitro via miRNA inhibition using antisense oligonucleotides. Our aim is to improve understanding of the molecular dynamics of growth and development in F. hepatica, which will aid the identification of novel control targets for migratory fluke, the key pathogenic stage that is not susceptible to most of the available flukicides. 
