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Conservation and diversification of small RNA pathways within flatworms

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Ecology and Evolution, September 2017
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Title
Conservation and diversification of small RNA pathways within flatworms
Published in
BMC Ecology and Evolution, September 2017
DOI 10.1186/s12862-017-1061-5
Pubmed ID
Authors

Santiago Fontenla, Gabriel Rinaldi, Pablo Smircich, Jose F. Tort

Abstract

Small non-coding RNAs, including miRNAs, and gene silencing mediated by RNA interference have been described in free-living and parasitic lineages of flatworms, but only few key factors of the small RNA pathways have been exhaustively investigated in a limited number of species. The availability of flatworm draft genomes and predicted proteomes allowed us to perform an extended survey of the genes involved in small non-coding RNA pathways in this phylum. Overall, findings show that the small non-coding RNA pathways are conserved in all the analyzed flatworm linages; however notable peculiarities were identified. While Piwi genes are amplified in free-living worms they are completely absent in all parasitic species. Remarkably all flatworms share a specific Argonaute family (FL-Ago) that has been independently amplified in different lineages. Other key factors such as Dicer are also duplicated, with Dicer-2 showing structural differences between trematodes, cestodes and free-living flatworms. Similarly, a very divergent GW182 Argonaute interacting protein was identified in all flatworm linages. Contrasting to this, genes involved in the amplification of the RNAi interfering signal were detected only in the ancestral free living species Macrostomum lignano. We here described all the putative small RNA pathways present in both free living and parasitic flatworm lineages. These findings highlight innovations specifically evolved in platyhelminths presumably associated with novel mechanisms of gene expression regulation mediated by small RNA pathways that differ to what has been classically described in model organisms. Understanding these phylum-specific innovations and the differences between free living and parasitic species might provide clues to adaptations to parasitism, and would be relevant for gene-silencing technology development for parasitic flatworms that infect hundreds of million people worldwide.

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 57 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 57 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 10 18%
Researcher 10 18%
Professor > Associate Professor 4 7%
Student > Master 4 7%
Student > Bachelor 3 5%
Other 8 14%
Unknown 18 32%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 16 28%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 15 26%
Veterinary Science and Veterinary Medicine 2 4%
Arts and Humanities 1 2%
Environmental Science 1 2%
Other 2 4%
Unknown 20 35%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 27 December 2017.
All research outputs
#15,989,045
of 25,382,440 outputs
Outputs from BMC Ecology and Evolution
#2,688
of 3,714 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#182,880
of 323,227 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Ecology and Evolution
#37
of 50 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,382,440 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 36th percentile – i.e., 36% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,714 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 12.5. This one is in the 27th percentile – i.e., 27% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 323,227 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 43rd percentile – i.e., 43% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 50 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 26th percentile – i.e., 26% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.