title: Infections of virulent and avirulent viruses differentially influenced the expression of dicer-1, ago-1, and microRNAs in Bombus terrestris.
abstract: The microRNA (miRNA) pathway is well established to be involved in host-pathogen interactions. As key insect pollinators, bees are suffering from widely spreading viruses, especially honeybees and bumblebees. In order to better understand bee-virus interaction, we comparatively analyzed the involvement of the bumblebee miRNA pathway upon infection by two different viruses. In our setup, an avirulent infection is induced by slow bee paralysis virus (SBPV) and a virulent infection is induced by Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV). Our results showed the increased expressions of dicer-1 and ago-1 upon SBPV infection. There were 17 and 12 bumblebee miRNAs differentially expressed upon SBPV and IAPV infections, respectively. These results may indicate the involvement of the host miRNA pathway in bumblebee-virus interaction. However, silencing of dicer-1 did not influence the genome copy number of SBPV. Target prediction for these differentially expressed miRNAs showed their possible involvement in targeting viral genomic RNA and in the regulation of networks in bumblebee. Our study opens a new insight into bee-virus interaction meditated by host miRNAs.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Entomology and Pest Control Engineering, College of Plant Protection, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China.|Department of Crop Protection, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jinzhi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.affiliation: Department of Crop Protection, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Meeus
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ghent University, Ottergemsesteenweg 460, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Dieter Im
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: De Coninck
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ghent University, Ottergemsesteenweg 460, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Deforce
authors.affiliation: Australian Infectious Disease Research Centre, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Kayvan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Etebari
authors.affiliation: Australian Infectious Disease Research Centre, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Sassan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Asgari
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Entomology and Pest Control Engineering, College of Plant Protection, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China.|Department of Crop Protection, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Guy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Smagghe
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D060565:Argonaute Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D001516:Bees / Q000235:genetics* / Q000821:virology*; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions / Q000235:genetics; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D054817:Pollination / Q000235:genetics; D043244:Ribonuclease III / Q000235:genetics*; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000235:genetics*; D014780:Viruses / Q000472:pathogenicity*
chemical_list: D060565:Argonaute Proteins; D035683:MicroRNAs; D043244:Ribonuclease III