title: Marek's disease virus microRNA designated Mdv1-pre-miR-M4 targets both cellular and viral genes.
abstract: Mdv1-miR-M4 is one of 25 microRNAs (miRNAs) expressed by Marek's disease virus (MDV-1), an oncogenic alphaherpesvirus that induces fatal T-cell lymphoma in chickens. Mdv1-miR-M4 was shown to be the second functional viral ortholog of miR-155, a cellular miRNA that plays a crucial role in several physiological and pathological processes in lymphocyte biology. In this study, we investigated a panel of putative mdv1-miR-M4 targets involved in gene networks affecting both cellular and viral life cycles. Using luciferase reporter assays, we showed that mdv1-miR-M4-5P and miR-155 efficiently targeted a common set of 3' untranslated regions (3'UTR) of six cellular genes (GPM6B, RREB1, c-Myb, MAP3K7IP2, PU.1 and C/EBP). In addition, we also investigated the interactions between mdv1-miR-M4-5P and mdv1-miR-M43P and viral mRNAs encoding UL28 and UL32 in both reporter and western blot assays. Mdv1-miR-M4 specifically inhibited the translation of these two viral proteins, which are involved in the cleavage/packaging of herpesvirus DNA.
authors.affiliation: University François Rabelais, UFR Sciences et Techniques, Tours, France.
authors.forename: Benoît
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Muylkens
authors.forename: Damien
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Coupeau
authors.forename: Ginette
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dambrine
authors.forename: Sascha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Trapp
authors.forename: Denis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rasschaert
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D002645:Chickens; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000378:metabolism*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D025922:Mardivirus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs