Bioinformatically-predicted varicella zoster virus small non-coding RNAs are expressed in lytically-infected epithelial cells and neurons.

Bioinformatically-predicted varicella zoster virus small non-coding RNAs are expressed in lytically-infected epithelial cells and neurons. Virus Res. 2019 Oct 12;:197773 Authors: Golani-Zaidie L, Borodiansky-Shteinberg T, Bisht P, Das B, Kinchington PR, Goldstein RS Abstract Most herpesviruses use both host and viral small non-coding RNAs (sncRNA), especially microRNA, to modulate infection. Bioinformatic analyses of NGS data obtained from Varicella Zoster virus (VZV)-infected cells predicted 24 VZVsncRNA, seven of which were confirmed to be expressed in infected fibroblasts and neurons using stem-loop quantitative reverse transcription PCR (SL-PCR). We here assayed for the expression of all 24 of the bioinformatically predicted VZVsncRNA in cells productively infected by VZV using SL-PCR. 23 of the 24 predicted sequences were detected in VZV-infected ARPE19 cells and 19 of the 24 sequences in infected human neurons generated by two methods from embryonic stem cells. We also show that blocking one of two newly-tested VZV-encoded sncRNA using locked nucleotide antagonists significantly increased viral replication. These findings suggest that further study of VZV encoded sncRNA could provide an additional level of regulation into the life cycle of this pathogenic human herpesvirus. PMID: 31614167 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Virus Research - Category: Virology Authors: Tags: Virus Res Source Type: research