title: Identification of Ebola virus microRNAs and their putative pathological function.
abstract: Ebola virus (EBOV), a member of the filovirus family, is an enveloped negative-sense RNA virus that causes lethal infections in humans and primates. Recently, more than 1000 people have been killed by the Ebola virus disease in Africa, yet no specific treatment or diagnostic tests for EBOV are available. In this study, we identified two putative viral microRNA precursors (pre-miRNAs) and three putative mature microRNAs (miRNAs) derived from the EBOV genome. The production of the EBOV miRNAs was further validated in HEK293T cells transfected with a pcDNA6.2-GW/EmGFP-EBOV-pre-miRNA plasmid, indicating that EBOV miRNAs can be produced through the cellular miRNA processing machinery. We also predicted the potential target genes of these EBOV miRNAs and their possible biological functions. Overall, this study reports for the first time that EBOV may produce miRNAs, which could serve as non-invasive biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of EBOV infection and as therapeutic targets for Ebola viral infection treatment.
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Engineering Research Center for microRNA Biology and Biotechnology, State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China.
authors.forename: HongWei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: SuYang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zen
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: ChenYu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D019295:Computational Biology; D053487:DEAD-box RNA Helicases / Q000378:metabolism; D029043:Ebolavirus / Q000235:genetics*; D057809:HEK293 Cells; D019142:Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008156:Luciferases / Q000378:metabolism; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000378:metabolism*; D011379:Prognosis; D034622:RNA Interference; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000378:metabolism*; D043244:Ribonuclease III / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D035683:MicroRNAs; D012367:RNA, Viral; D008156:Luciferases; C408087:DICER1 protein, human; D043244:Ribonuclease III; D053487:DEAD-box RNA Helicases