An international team, composed of 11 institutions from six countries, including BGI, presented the whole-genome sequence of Trichuris suis, a parasitic1 worm in pig. Understanding the genetics mechanisms3 underlying4 the pig parasite5 may aid to modify the human immune response that could result in better treatments for autoimmune diseases, including inflammatory bowel6 disease and multiple sclerosis（多发性硬化）. The latest research was published online in Nature Genetics. The human whipworm infects around 1 billion people worldwide and causes a disease that results in major socioeconomic loses. In contrast, the pig whipworm causes disease and losses in livestock7, but it does not cause disease in humans. Its reported that pig whipworm infection could even prevent inflammatory disease in humans, and has been used to treat inflammatory bowel disease and multiple sclerosis.In this study, researchers sequenced the genomes of single adult female and male pig whipworm at about 140-fold coverage8, producing draft as百度竞价推广blies of 76 Mb and 81 Mb, respectively. It was previously9 reported that the XX and XY karyotypes for female and male whipworm, respectively, but in this study researchers found no evidence for a Y chromosome10 among the male-specific scaffolds, suggesting that the sex chromosomes11 were the smallest chromosomal12 pair and were morphologically very similar in both sexes.Intriguingly13, they found the microRNAs seem to have a major role in regulating sexual development in this species. Among them, the tsu-miR-228 in male, and tsu-miR-236 and tsu-miR-252 in female worms were predicted to regulate and suppress key feminizing and masculinizing developmental genes14, respectively. According to the authors, this is the first time they observed such results in a metazoan（后生动物，多细胞动物）.When investigating how pig whipworm regulates the host immune response, researchers explored the stage-, sex- and tissue-specific transcription of mRNAs and small noncoding RNAs. The secretory15 proteins showed high representation in transcriptome of pig whipworm. The peptidases, particularly the secreted16 peptidases upregulated during larval development and in the stichosome, seemed to have a central role in human autoimmune disorders17, primarily through inhibiting18 inflammation. Researchers also constructed the models of inflammatory bowel disease and other autoimmune disorders, trying to figure out a way for parasite-derived therapies.Li Hu, Project Manager from BGI, said, The constructed pig whipworm genome sequence provides us a genetic2 resource for deeply investigating the mechanisms underlying human autoimmune diseases. Meanwhile, the pig whipworm-host interactions will shed new light on the control of helminth（蛔虫，蠕虫） and other immunopathological diseases in human.
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1 parasitic adj.寄生的 参考例句： Will global warming mean the spread of tropical parasitic diseases全球变暖是不是意味着热带寄生虫病会蔓延呢？ By definition,this way of life is parasitic.从其含义来讲，这是种寄生虫的生活方法。
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