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A virus-encoded microRNA contributes to evade innate immune response during SARS-CoV-2 infection (preprint)
biorxiv; 2021.
Preprint
in English
| bioRxiv | ID: ppzbmed-10.1101.2021.09.09.459577
ABSTRACT
SARS-CoV-2 infection results in impaired interferon response in severe COVID-19 patients. However, how SARS-CoV-2 interferes with host immune response is incompletely understood. Here, we sequenced small RNAs from SARS-CoV-2-infected human cells and identified a micro-RNA (miRNA) encoded in a recently evolved region of the viral genome. We show that the virus-encoded miRNA produces two miRNA isoforms in infected cells by the enzyme Dicer and they are loaded into Argonaute proteins. Moreover, the predominant miRNA isoform targets the 3UTR of interferon-stimulated genes and represses their expression in a miRNA-like fashion. Finally, the two viral miRNA isoforms were detected in nasopharyngeal swabs from COVID-19 patients. We propose that SARS-CoV-2 employs a virus-encoded miRNA to hijack the host miRNA machinery and evade the interferon-mediated immune response.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
Preprints
Database:
bioRxiv
Main subject:
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
/
COVID-19
Language:
English
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Preprint
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