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. 2018 May 31;14(5):e1006963.
doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1006963. eCollection 2018 May.

RNA virus building blocks-miRNAs not included

Lauren C Aguado  1 , Benjamin tenOever  2
Affiliations

RNA virus building blocks-miRNAs not included

Lauren C Aguado et al. PLoS Pathog. .
No abstract available

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Depiction of viruses for which small-RNA populations have been sequenced in an attempt to identify putative miRNAs.
Viruses are plotted based on confirmed miRNA numbers (left axis) versus both their life cycle (latent or nonlatent, right axis) and their overall genomic size (x-axis). ND denotes no miRNAs detected. DNA viruses (blue) include the following: BKPyV, JCPyV, MCPyV, VACV, RhCMV, HvAV, WSSV, HCMV, MDV, KSHV, HSV-1/-2, and EBV. Retroviruses (black) include the following: HIV, BLV, and SFV. RNA viruses (red) include the following: YFV, SINV, HCV, VSV, and IAV. BKPyV, BK polyomavirus; BLV, bovine leukemia virus; EBV, Epstein–Barr virus; HCMV, human cytomegalovirus; HCV, hepatitis C virus; HIV, human immunodeficiency virus; HSV-1/-2, herpes simplex virus-1/-2; HvAV, Heliothis virescens ascovirus; IAV, influenza A virus; JCPyV, JC polyomavirus; KSHV, Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpes virus; MCPyV, Merkel cell polyomavirus; MDV, Marek disease virus; miRNA, micro-RNA; RhCMV, Rhesus cytomegalovirus; SFV, simian foamy virus; SINV, Sindbis virus; VACV, vaccinia virus; VSV, vesicular stomatitis virus; WSSV, white spot syndrome virus; YFV; yellow fever virus.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Depiction of the theoretical constraints to explain the absence of RNA-virus–encoded miRNAs.
(1) Drosha, the RNase III nuclease required for the initial processing step in miRNA biogenesis, was thought to be exclusively nuclear. However, during infection, Drosha can translocate, allowing access to the cytoplasmic viral genomic material. (2) Drosha engagement with and subsequent processing of RNA-virus–encoded hairpins leads to destruction of the genome. (3) After further processing, the resulting mature miRNA would be perfectly complementary to the viral antigenome. RISC engagement of this complementary region within the antigenome would lead to slicing and thus rapid destruction of the target. miRNA, microRNA; RISC, RNA-induced silencing complex.
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