Small RNA sequencing of NIH 3T12 cells infected by murine gammaherpesvirus

MicroRNA (miRNA) and endogenous siRNA (endo-siRNA) are two essential classes of small noncoding RNAs (sncRNAs) in eukaryotic organisms. The class of miRNA is diverse and there exist noncanonical miRNAs that bypass the canonical miRNA biogenesis pathway. In order to identify noncanonical miRNAs and endo-siRNAs responding to virus infection and study their potential function, we sequenced small-RNA species from cells lytically infected with murine gammaherpesvirus 68. In addition to 3 novel canonical miRNAs in mouse, two antisense miRNAs in virus and 25 novel noncanonical miRNAs, including miRNAs derived from tRNAs, snoRNAs and introns, in the host were identified. These noncanonical miRNAs exhibited features distinct from canonical miRNAs in the lengths and structures of miRNA hairpins as well as base pairings and first nucleotide preference. Many of the novel miRNAs are conserved in mammals. In addition to several known murine endo-siRNAs detected by the sequencing profiling, a novel locus in the mouse genome was identified to give rise to endo-siRNAs. This novel endo-siRNA locus is comprised of two tandem inverted B4 short interspersed nuclear elements (SINEs). Unexpectedly, the SINE-derived endo-siRNAs were found in a variety of sequencing data as well as virus-infected cells. Moreover, a murine miRNA was up-regulated more than 35 fold in infected than in mock-treated cells. The putative target genes of the viral and the up-regulated murine miRNAs were potentially involved in processes of gene transcription and protein phosphorylation and localized to membranes, suggesting their role in manipulating the host basal immune system during lytic infection. Our results extended the number of noncanonical miRNAs in mammals and shed new lights on their potential functions of lytic infection of MHV68. Overall design: Mouse NIH 3T12 cells infectd with MHV68 (3 samples) and mock-treated (2 samples) were examined. Noncanonical microRNAs and endogenous siRNAs discovery in lytic infection of murine gammaherpesvirus MHV68 (NC_001826.2).

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Reese TA, Xia J, Johnson LS, Zhou X, Zhang W, Virgin HW