Small interfering RNA pathway contributes to antiviral immunity in Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf9) cells following Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus infection.

Small interfering RNA pathway contributes to antiviral immunity in Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf9) cells following Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus infection. Insect Biochem Mol Biol. 2018 Jul 31;: Authors: Karamipour N, Fathipour Y, Talebi AA, Asgari S, Mehrabadi M Abstract Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) is a well-known virus in the Baculoviridae family. Presence of the p35 gene in the AcMNPV genome as a suppressor of the short interfering RNA (siRNA) pathway is a strong reason for the importance of the siRNA pathway in the host cellular defense. Given that, here we explored the roles of Dicer-2 (Dcr2) and Argonaute 2 (Ago2) genes, key factors in the siRNA pathway in response to AcMNPV infection in Spodoptera frugiperda Sf9 cells. The results showed that the transcript levels of Dcr2 and Ago2 increased in response to AcMNPV infection particularly over 16 h post infection suggesting induction of the siRNA pathway. Reductions in the expression levels of Dcr2 and Ago2 by using specific dsRNAs in Sf9 cells modestly enhanced production of viral genomic DNA which indicated their role in the host antiviral defense. Using deep sequencing, our previous study showed a large number of small reads (siRNAs of ∼20 nucleotides) from AcMNPV-infected Sf9 cells that were mapped to some of the viral genes (hot spots). Down-regulation of Dcr2 in Sf9 cells resulted in enhanced expression levels of the s...
Source: Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology - Category: Biochemistry Authors: Tags: Insect Biochem Mol Biol Source Type: research