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Virus-derived small RNAs: molecular footprints of host-pathogen interactions.

ABSTRACT: Viruses are obligatory intracellular parasites that require the host machinery to replicate. During their replication cycle, viral RNA intermediates can be recognized and degraded by different antiviral mechanisms that include RNA decay, RNA interference, and RNase L pathways. As a consequence of viral RNA degradation, infected cells can accumulate virus-derived small RNAs at high levels compared to cellular molecules. These small RNAs are imprinted with molecular characteristics that reflect their origin. First, small RNAs can be used to reconstruct viral sequences and identify the virus from which they originated. Second, other molecular features of small RNAs such as size, polarity, and base preferences depend on the type of viral substrate and host mechanism of degradation. Thus, the pattern of small RNAs generated in infected cells can be used as a molecular footprint to identify and characterize viruses independent on sequence homology searches against known references. Hence, sequencing of small RNAs obtained from infected cells enables virus discovery and characterization using both sequence-dependent strategies and novel pattern-based approaches. Recent studies are helping unlock the full application of small RNA sequencing for virus discovery and characterization. WIREs RNA 2016, 7:824-837. doi: 10.1002/wrna.1361 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.

SUBMITTER: Aguiar ER

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7169819 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Virus-derived small RNAs: molecular footprints of host-pathogen interactions.

Aguiar Eric Roberto Guimarães Rocha ER Olmo Roenick Proveti RP Marques João Trindade JT

Wiley interdisciplinary reviews. RNA 20160512 6

Viruses are obligatory intracellular parasites that require the host machinery to replicate. During their replication cycle, viral RNA intermediates can be recognized and degraded by different antiviral mechanisms that include RNA decay, RNA interference, and RNase L pathways. As a consequence of viral RNA degradation, infected cells can accumulate virus-derived small RNAs at high levels compared to cellular molecules. These small RNAs are imprinted with molecular characteristics that reflect th ...[more]

PMID: 27170499

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Project description:BackgroundmicroRNAs (miRNAs), a class of short, non-coding RNA can be found in a highly stable, cell-free form in mammalian body fluids. Specific miRNAs are secreted by parasitic nematodes in exosomes and have been detected in the serum of murine and dog hosts infected with the filarial nematodes Litomosoides sigmodontis and Dirofilaria immitis, respectively. Here we identify extracellular, parasite-derived small RNAs associated with Onchocerca species infecting cattle and humans.MethodsSmall RNA libraries were prepared from total RNA extracted from the nodule fluid of cattle infected with Onchocerca ochengi as well as serum and plasma from humans infected with Onchocerca volvulus in Cameroon and Ghana. Parasite-derived miRNAs were identified based on the criteria that sequences unambiguously map to hairpin structures in Onchocerca genomes, do not align to the human genome and are not present in European control serum.ResultsA total of 62 mature miRNAs from 52 distinct pre-miRNA candidates were identified in nodule fluid from cattle infected with O. ochengi of which 59 are identical in the genome of the human parasite O. volvulus. Six of the extracellular miRNAs were also identified in sequencing analyses of serum and plasma from humans infected with O. volvulus. Based on sequencing analysis the abundance levels of the parasite miRNAs in serum or plasma range from 5 to 127 reads/per million total host miRNA reads identified, comparable to our previous analyses of Schistosoma mansoni and L. sigmodontis miRNAs in serum. All six of the O. volvulus miRNAs identified have orthologs in other filarial nematodes and four were identified in the serum of mice infected with L. sigmodontis.ConclusionsWe have identified parasite-derived miRNAs associated with onchocerciasis in cattle and humans. Our results confirm the conserved nature of RNA secretion by diverse nematodes. Additional species-specific small RNAs from O. volvulus may be present in serum based on the novel miRNA sequences identified in the nodule fluid. In our analyses comparison to European control serum illuminates the scope for false-positives, warranting caution in criteria that should be applied to identification of biomarkers of infection.

Project description:BackgroundViral small RNAs (vsiRNAs) in the infected host can be generated from viral double-stranded RNA replicative intermediates, self-complementary regions of the viral genome or from the action of host RNA-dependent RNA polymerases on viral templates. The vsiRNA abundance and profile as well as the endogenous small RNA population can vary between different hosts infected by the same virus influencing viral pathogenicity and host response. There are no reports on the analysis of vsiRNAs of Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), a segmented negative stranded RNA virus in the family Bunyaviridae, with two of its gene segments showing ambisense gene arrangement. The virus causes significant economic losses to numerous field and horticultural crops worldwide.Principal findingsTomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV)-specific vsiRNAs were characterized by deep sequencing in virus-infected experimental host Nicotiana benthamiana and a commercial, susceptible host tomato. The total small (s) RNA reads in TSWV-infected tomato sample showed relatively equal distribution of 21, 22 and 24 nt, whereas N. benthamiana sample was dominated by 24 nt total sRNAs. The number of vsiRNA reads detected in tomato was many a magnitude (~350:1) higher than those found in N. benthamiana, however the profile of vsiRNAs in terms of relative abundance 21, 22 and 24 nt class size was similar in both the hosts. Maximum vsiRNA reads were obtained for the M RNA segment of TSWV while the largest L RNA segment had the least number of vsiRNAs in both tomato and N. benthamiana. Only the silencing suppressor, NSs, of TSWV recorded higher antisense vsiRNA with respect to the coding frame among all the genes of TSWV.SignificanceDetails of the origin, distribution and abundance of TSWV vsiRNAs could be useful in designing efficient targets for exploiting RNA interference for virus resistance. It also has major implications toward our understanding of the differential processing of vsiRNAs in antiviral defense and viral pathogenicity.

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Virus-derived small RNAs: molecular footprints of host-pathogen interactions.

Publications

Virus-derived small RNAs: molecular footprints of host-pathogen interactions.

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