SARS-CoV-2 produces a microRNA CoV2-miR-O8 in patients with COVID-19 infection

Elise J Tucker; Soon Wei Wong; Shashikanth Marri; Saira Ali; Anthony O Fedele; Michael Z Michael; Darling Rojas-Canales; Jordan Y Li; Chuan Kok Lim; Jonathan M Gleadle

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.108719

SARS-CoV-2 produces a microRNA CoV2-miR-O8 in patients with COVID-19 infection

iScience. 2023 Dec 13;27(1):108719. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108719. eCollection 2024 Jan 19.

Authors

Elise J Tucker^{1

2}, Soon Wei Wong^{1

2}, Shashikanth Marri², Saira Ali^{1

2}, Anthony O Fedele¹, Michael Z Michael^{2

3}, Darling Rojas-Canales^{1

2}, Jordan Y Li^{1

2}, Chuan Kok Lim⁴, Jonathan M Gleadle^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Renal Medicine, Flinders Medical Centre, SA, Australia.
² College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, SA, Australia.
³ Department of Gastroenterology, Flinders Medical Centre, SA, Australia.
⁴ Infectious Diseases Laboratories, SA Pathology, SA, Australia.

Abstract

Many viruses produce microRNAs (miRNAs), termed viral miRNAs (v-miRNAs), with the capacity to target host gene expression. Bioinformatic and cell culture studies suggest that SARS-CoV-2 can also generate v-miRNAs. This patient-based study defines the SARS-CoV-2 encoded small RNAs present in nasopharyngeal swabs of patients with COVID-19 infection using small RNA-seq. A specific conserved sequence (CoV2-miR-O8) is defined that is not expressed in other coronaviruses but is preserved in all SARS-CoV-2 variants. CoV2-miR-O8 is highly represented in nasopharyngeal samples from patients with COVID-19 infection, is detected by RT-PCR assays in patients, has features consistent with Dicer and Drosha generation as well as interaction with Argonaute and targets specific human microRNAs.

Keywords: Health sciences; Immunology; Medical specialty; Medicine; Virology.