Lessons Learned from In Vivo Studies of a Viral Noncoding RNA.
Despite increasing interest in the biology of noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs), few functions have been uncovered for viral ncRNAs in vivo. In their recent article in mSphere, Feldman and colleagues [E. R. Feldman et al., mSphere 1(2):e00105-15, 2016, doi:10.1128/mSphere.00105-15] demonstrate a highly specific activity of a gammaherpesviral ncRNA in viral dissemination and establishment of latent infection. Their work highlights several interesting features that should be informative to future studies of viral ncRNA.
Department of Molecular Biosciences, Center for Systems and Synthetic Biology, LaMontagne Center for Infectious Disease, Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA.
Rodney P
RP
Kincaid
Department of Molecular Biosciences, Center for Systems and Synthetic Biology, LaMontagne Center for Infectious Disease, Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA.
Christopher S
CS
Sullivan
Epstein-Barr virus; Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus; gammaherpesvirus; latency; microRNA; noncoding RNA; viral dissemination