Publications by authors named "Murilo S Amaral"

Article Synopsis
  • The cerebral cortex, which plays a crucial role in human cognitive abilities, has seen significant evolutionary changes, particularly involving long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), which are pivotal gene regulatory elements.
  • Researchers conducted a comparative analysis of lncRNAs in the developing cerebral cortex across humans, rhesus macaques, mice, and chickens, revealing distinct evolutionary patterns and age-related expression differences.
  • Findings indicate older lncRNAs are linked to conserved developmental roles, whereas younger lncRNAs, associated with primate and human-specific features, may drive the evolution and dysfunction of cortical excitatory neurons, implicating them in neurodevelopmental disorders.
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Schistosomiasis, a challenging neglected tropical disease, affects millions of people worldwide. Developing a prophylactic vaccine against Schistosoma mansoni has been hindered by the parasite's biological complexity. In this study, we utilized the innovative phage-display immunoprecipitation followed by a sequencing approach (PhIP-Seq) to screen the immune response of 10 infected rhesus macaques during self-cure and challenge-resistant phases, identifying vaccine candidates.

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The trematode parasite Schistosoma mansoni causes schistosomiasis, which affects over 200 million people worldwide. Schistosomes are dioecious, with egg laying depending on the females' obligatory pairing with males. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are transcripts longer than 200 nucleotides with low or no protein-coding potential that have been involved in other species with reproduction, stem cell maintenance, and drug resistance.

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is a flatworm that causes schistosomiasis, a neglected tropical disease that affects over 200 million people worldwide. New therapeutic targets are needed with only one drug available for treatment and no vaccine. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are transcripts longer than 200 nucleotides with low or no protein-coding potential.

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Several studies have described the effects of human tumor necrosis factor alpha (hTNF-α) on Schistosoma mansoni. hTNF-α affects the worm's development, metabolism, egg-laying, gene expression and protein phosphorylation. The available data on the influence of hTNF-α on egg-laying in S.

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Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) emerged in the past 20 years due to massive amounts of scientific data regarding transcriptomic analyses. They have been implicated in a plethora of cellular processes in higher eukaryotes. However, little is known about lncRNA possible involvement in parasitic diseases, with most studies only detecting their presence in parasites of human medical importance.

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Trypanosoma cruzi-the causative agent of Chagas disease-like other kinetoplastids, relies mostly on post-transcriptional mechanisms for regulation of gene expression. However, trypanosomatids undergo drastic changes in nuclear architecture and chromatin structure along their complex life cycle which, combined with a remarkable set of reversible histone post-translational modifications, indicate that chromatin is also a target for control of gene expression and differentiation signals in these organisms. Chromatin-modifying enzymes have a direct impact on gene expression programs and DNA metabolism.

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The rhesus macaque provides a unique model of acquired immunity against schistosomes, which afflict >200 million people worldwide. By monitoring bloodstream levels of parasite-gut-derived antigen, we show that from week 10 onwards an established infection with Schistosoma mansoni is cleared in an exponential manner, eliciting resistance to reinfection. Secondary challenge at week 42 demonstrates that protection is strong in all animals and complete in some.

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Reverse-transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is the most used, fast, and reproducible method to confirm large-scale gene expression data. The use of stable reference genes for the normalization of RT-qPCR assays is recognized worldwide. No systematic study for selecting appropriate reference genes for usage in RT-qPCR experiments comparing gene expression levels at different Schistosoma mansoni life-cycle stages has been performed.

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Schistosoma mansoni is a flatworm that causes schistosomiasis, a neglected tropical disease that affects more than 200 million people worldwide. There is only one drug indicated for treatment, praziquantel, which may lead to parasite resistance emergence. The ribonucleoside analogue 5-azacytidine (5-AzaC) is an epigenetic drug that inhibits S.

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Zika virus (ZIKV) causes congenital Zika syndrome (CZS), which is characterized by fetal demise, microcephaly and other abnormalities. ZIKV in the pregnant woman circulation must cross the placental barrier that includes fetal endothelial cells and trophoblasts, in order to reach the fetus. CZS occurs in ~1-40% of cases of pregnant women infected by ZIKV, suggesting that mothers' infection by ZIKV during pregnancy is not deterministic for CZS phenotype in the fetus.

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Treatment and control of schistosomiasis still rely on only one effective drug, praziquantel (PZQ) and, due to mass treatment, the increasing risk of selecting for schistosome strains that are resistant to PZQ has alerted investigators to the urgent need to develop novel therapeutic strategies. The histone-modifying enzymes (HMEs) represent promising targets for the development of epigenetic drugs against Schistosoma mansoni. In the present study, we targeted the S.

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subsp. , once confined to South America and infecting mainly citrus and coffee plants, has been found to be associated with other hosts and in other geographic regions. We present high-quality draft genome sequences of subsp.

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Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis type 8 (ALS8) is an autosomal dominant form of ALS, which is caused by pathogenic variants in the VAPB gene. Here we investigated five ALS8 patients, classified as 'severe' and 'mild' from a gigantic Brazilian kindred, carrying the same VAPB mutation but displaying different clinical courses. Copy number variation and whole exome sequencing analyses in such individuals ruled out previously described genetic modifiers of pathogenicity.

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Background: Schistosomiasis chemotherapy is largely based on praziquantel (PZQ). Although PZQ is very safe and tolerable, it does not prevent reinfection and emerging resistance is a primary concern. Recent studies have shown that the targeting of epigenetic machinery in Schistosoma mansoni may result in severe alterations in parasite development, leading to death.

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Schistosomiasis is caused by a trematode of the genus Schistosoma and affects over 200 million people worldwide. The only drug recommended by the World Health Organization for treatment and control of schistosomiasis is praziquantel. Development of new drugs is therefore of great importance.

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Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) (>200 nt) are expressed at levels lower than those of the protein-coding mRNAs, and in all eukaryotic model species where they have been characterized, they are transcribed from thousands of different genomic . In humans, some four dozen lncRNAs have been studied in detail, and they have been shown to play important roles in transcriptional regulation, acting in conjunction with transcription factors and epigenetic marks to modulate the tissue-type specific programs of transcriptional gene activation and repression. In , around 10,000 lncRNAs have been identified in previous works.

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Background: The possibility of emergence of praziquantel-resistant Schistosoma parasites and the lack of other effective drugs demand the discovery of new schistosomicidal agents. In this context the study of compounds that target histone-modifying enzymes is extremely promising. Our aim was to investigate the effect of inhibition of EZH2, a histone methyltransferase that is involved in chromatin remodeling processes and gene expression control; we tested different developmental forms of Schistosoma mansoni using GKS343, a selective inhibitor of EZH2 in human cells.

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Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been widely discovered in several organisms with the help of high-throughput RNA sequencing. LncRNAs are over 200 nt-long transcripts that do not have protein-coding (PC) potential, having been reported in model organisms to act mainly on the overall control of PC gene expression. Little is known about the functionality of lncRNAs in evolutionarily ancient non-model metazoan organisms, like Schistosoma mansoni, the parasite that causes schistosomiasis, one of the most prevalent infectious-parasitic diseases worldwide.

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Cell signaling events triggered by androgen hormone in prostate cells is dependent on activation of the androgen receptor (AR) transcription factor. Androgen hormone binding to AR promotes its displacement from the cytoplasm to the nucleus and AR binding to DNA motifs, thus inducing activatory and inhibitory transcriptional programs through a complex regulatory mechanism not yet fully understood. In this work, we performed RNA-seq deep-sequencing of LNCaP prostate cancer cells and found over 7000 expressed long intergenic non-coding RNAs (lincRNAs), of which ∼4000 are novel lincRNAs, and 258 lincRNAs have their expression activated by androgen.

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The original PDF version of this Article contained errors in the spelling of Luiz Carlos Caires-Júnior, Uirá Souto Melo, Bruno Henrique Silva Araujo, Alessandra Soares-Schanoski, Murilo Sena Amaral, Kayque Alves Telles-Silva, Vanessa van der Linden, Helio van der Linden, João Ricardo Mendes de Oliveira, Nivia Maria Rodrigues Arrais, Joanna Goes Castro Meira, Ana Jovina Barreto Bispo, Esper Abrão Cavalheiro, and Robert Andreata-Santos, which were incorrectly given as Luiz Carlos de Caires Jr., UiráSouto Melo, Bruno Silva Henrique Araujo, Alessandra Soares Schanoski, MuriloSena Amaral, Kayque Telles Alves Silva, Vanessa Van der Linden, Helio Van der Linden, João Mendes Ricardo de Oliveira, Nivia Rodrigues Maria Arrais, Joanna Castro Goes Meira, Ana JovinaBarreto Bispo, EsperAbrão Cavalheiro, and Robert Andreata Santos. Furthermore, in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article, the top panel of Fig.

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Congenital Zika syndrome (CZS) causes early brain development impairment by affecting neural progenitor cells (NPCs). Here, we analyze NPCs from three pairs of dizygotic twins discordant for CZS. We compare by RNA-Seq the NPCs derived from CZS-affected and CZS-unaffected twins.

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Article Synopsis
  • Next Generation Sequencing, particularly RNA-Seq, has uncovered a variety of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in many organisms, including the Schistosoma mansoni parasite responsible for schistosomiasis.
  • In this study, researchers identified 7,029 putative long intergenic ncRNA (lincRNA) genes across 2,596 genomic locations, revealing their potential functional roles and expression variability throughout different life stages of the parasite.
  • This research marks the first comprehensive identification and structural annotation of lncRNAs in the S. mansoni genome, highlighting their possible involvement in essential biological processes during parasite development.
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