Identification of microbial msRNA and its interaction with host genes.

• Grant number: 25/28154-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2026
• End date: December 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Genetics and Improvement of Domestic Animals
• Principal Investigator: Tainã Figueiredo Cardoso
• Grantee: Thamyres Midori Gayer Shiruo
• Host Institution: Embrapa Pecuária Sudeste. Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Studies using meta-omics technologies have reported that phenotypes of agriculturalinterest, such as feed efficiency (FE) and methane emission (ME) in ruminants, are affectedby one or more groups of ruminal microbiota. The host and their microbiome interactions aredriven primarily by molecular interactions between microbial and host molecules such asproteins, RNA, and metabolites. Microbial sRNAs similar in size to miRNAs (msRNAs)have also been found in several bacteria. Like miRNAs, the msRNAs are approximately 15 to25 nucleotides in length, and their precursors are predicted to form a hairpin loop secondarystructure (WATKINS; ARYA, 2019) . Due to the small number of nucleotides involved in theds msRNAs, the regulatory complexes identified involving msRNAs are predicted to besimilar to miRNAs and siRNAs in eukaryotes (WATKINS; ARYA, 2019) . Choi et al. (2017)observed the ability of bacteria to deliver msRNAs into eukaryotic cells and demonstratedthat highly expressed periodontal-pathogen msRNAs induced the production of cytokines inthe host. Hoy et al. (2014) found parasite-derived miRNAs (miR-277, miR-3479-3p, andbantam) in mice serum as novel biomarkers of helminth infection. In this way, predictingmsRNAs in microbiome genome sequences associated with the phenotypes of interest andinvestigating their interaction with host genes is fundamental to finding potential regulatorsacting on the microbial-host interaction. This understanding can help to provide theknowledge needed to develop strategies to manipulate the microbiomes and thereby improveFE and decrease the ME in cattle. (AU)