title: In silico analysis the complementarity of tomato microRNA/microRNA* sequences with Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) genomic RNAs.
abstract: Usually, modifications in normal microRNAs (miRs)-dependent gene expression are induced in transgenic plants expressing viral silencing suppressors or in viruses-inoculated plants. These phenomena are generally interpreted as a side effect of the antiviral silencing suppression. However, it has been recently reported that certain animal miRs prevent viral infection by directly interfering with pathogen replication or by binding to viral transcripts. To investigate whether such mechanisms operate in plants, we performed in silico analysis using tomato miR/miR* sequences and genomes of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV)-Fny (the severe strain), CMV-Q (the mild strain), the aggravated satellite RNA (satRNA) variant satT1 and the attenuated variant satYn12. Results showed that a total of 38 and 37 miR/miR* sequences could bind to genomic RNAs of CMV-Fny and CMV-Q, respectively. But only one sequence could bind to safT1 and three to satYn12. Interestingly, we found that these miRs/miR*s exhibited significant complementarity within 2a and 3a Open Reading Frames (ORFs) of CMV. And most of the sequences with potential to bind viral genomes were of miR*s, suggesting novel role of miR*s in host defense response. This finding is noteworthy as plant miR* sequences are presently thought very unstable and are not assigned with any function. Finally, we could predict targets in tomato database for the miR/miR* sequences that are highlighted in our study, most of them are involved in plant metabolism. Overall, these results shed light on the possible novel role of plant miR/miR* in antiviral defense mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Bioengineering, Zhejiang Science-Technology University, Hangzhou 310018, China.
authors.forename: Junli
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Jishuang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D017799:Cucumovirus / Q000235:genetics*; D016679:Genome, Viral; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000821:virology*; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs