Identification of a microRNA encoded by Anticarsia gemmatalis multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus

María Leticia Ferrelli; María Laura García; Víctor Romanowski; Carina Andrea Reyes

doi:10.1016/j.compbiolchem.2020.107276

Identification of a microRNA encoded by Anticarsia gemmatalis multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus

Comput Biol Chem. 2020 May 5:87:107276. doi: 10.1016/j.compbiolchem.2020.107276. Online ahead of print.

Authors

María Leticia Ferrelli¹, María Laura García², Víctor Romanowski³, Carina Andrea Reyes⁴

Affiliations

¹ Instituto de Biotecnología y Biología Molecular (IBBM), CCT-La Plata, CONICET - Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP), Calles 47 y 115, 1900 La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Electronic address: lferrelli@biol.unlp.edu.ar.
² Instituto de Biotecnología y Biología Molecular (IBBM), CCT-La Plata, CONICET - Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP), Calles 47 y 115, 1900 La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Electronic address: garcia_m@biol.unlp.edu.ar.
³ Instituto de Biotecnología y Biología Molecular (IBBM), CCT-La Plata, CONICET - Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP), Calles 47 y 115, 1900 La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Electronic address: victor@biol.unlp.edu.ar.
⁴ Instituto de Biotecnología y Biología Molecular (IBBM), CCT-La Plata, CONICET - Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP), Calles 47 y 115, 1900 La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Electronic address: carinar@biol.unlp.edu.ar.

PMID: 32422523
DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiolchem.2020.107276

Abstract

MicroRNAs are regulatory RNAs that are scarcely described in Baculoviruses. In this work we predicted a microRNA in silico, denominated agmnpv-miR-4, encoded in the genome of Anticarsia gemmatalis Nucleopolyhedrovirus (AgMNPV), which is homologous to the already validated bmnpv-miR-4 from Bombyx mori Nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV). Considering information known for bmnpv-miR-4 such as seed sequence, coding location in the genome and putative target binding, we searched for the coding sequence of agmnpv-miR-4 in AgMNPV genome. A precursor sequence of agmnpv-miR-4 was predicted, and we identified a putative 23 nt mature microRNA, agmnpv-miR-4, coded in the complementary strand of AgMNPV-2D between positions 49,450 and 49,472. We validated agmnpv-miR-4 by Northern blot from HighFive cells and A. gemmatalis larve extracts infected with AgMNPV.

Keywords: AgMNPV; Alphabacuovirus; BmNPV; Virus microRNA.