Modulation of HERV Expression by Four Different Encephalitic Arboviruses during Infection of Human Primary Astrocytes

Fernando Luz de Castro; Otávio José Bernandes Brustolini; Victor Emmanuel Viana Geddes; Jorge Paes Barreto Marcondes de Souza; Soniza Vieira Alves-Leon; Renato Santana Aguiar; Ana Tereza Ribeiro Vasconcelos

doi:10.3390/v14112505

Modulation of HERV Expression by Four Different Encephalitic Arboviruses during Infection of Human Primary Astrocytes

Viruses. 2022 Nov 12;14(11):2505. doi: 10.3390/v14112505.

Authors

Fernando Luz de Castro¹, Otávio José Bernandes Brustolini², Victor Emmanuel Viana Geddes³, Jorge Paes Barreto Marcondes de Souza⁴, Soniza Vieira Alves-Leon⁵, Renato Santana Aguiar^{1

3}, Ana Tereza Ribeiro Vasconcelos²

Affiliations

¹ D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), Rio de Janeiro 22281-100, Brazil.
² Bioinformatics Lab, National Laboratory for Scientific Computing (LNCC), Petrópolis 25651-076, Brazil.
³ Integrative Biology Lab, Department of Genetics, Ecology and Evolution, Institute of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte 31270-901, Brazil.
⁴ Service of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, University Hospital Clementino Fraga Filho, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro 21941-617, Brazil.
⁵ Laboratory of Translational Neurosciences (LABNET/UNIRIO), Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 20270-004, Brazil.

Abstract

Human retroelements (HERVs) are retroviral origin sequences fixed in the human genome. HERVs induction is associated with neurogenesis, cellular development, immune activation, and neurological disorders. Arboviruses are often associated with the development of encephalitis. The interplay between these viruses and HERVs has not been fully elucidated. In this work, we analyzed RNAseq data derived from infected human primary astrocytes by Zika (ZikV), Mayaro (MayV), Oropouche (OroV) and Chikungunya (ChikV) viruses, and evaluated the modulation of HERVs and their nearby genes. Our data show common HERVs expression modulation by both alphaviruses, suggesting conserved evolutionary routes of transcription regulation. A total of 15 HERVs were co-modulated by the four arboviruses, including the highly upregulated HERV4_4q22. Data on the upregulation of genes nearby to these elements in ChikV, MayV and OroV infections were also obtained, and interaction networks were built. The upregulation of 14 genes common among all viruses was observed in the networks, and 93 genes between MayV and ChikV. These genes are related to cellular processes such as cellular replication, cytoskeleton, cell vesicle traffic and antiviral response. Together, our results support the role of HERVs induction in the transcription regulation process of genes during arboviral infections.

Keywords: arboviruses; astrocytes; human endogenous retroviruses.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Arboviruses*
Astrocytes
Chikungunya Fever*
Chikungunya virus*
Encephalitis*
Endogenous Retroviruses* / genetics
Humans
Zika Virus Infection*
Zika Virus* / genetics

Grants and funding

This research was supported by FAPERJ (E26/210.012/2020), FINEP (grant no. 01.16.0078.00) and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme through the ZIKAlliance project (grant agreement no. 734548). A.T.R.V. is supported by CNPq (307145/2021-2) and FAPERJ (26/201.046/2022). R.S.A is supported by CNPq (312688/2017-2 and 439119/2018-9) and FAPERJ (202.922/2018).