Abstract
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), an RNA virus, is responsible for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic of 2020. Experimental evidence suggests that microRNA can mediate an intracellular defence mechanism against some RNA viruses. The purpose of this study was to identify microRNA with predicted binding sites in the SARS-CoV-2 genome, compare these to their microRNA expression profiles in lung epithelial tissue and make inference towards possible roles for microRNA in mitigating coronavirus infection. We hypothesize that high expression of specific coronavirus-targeting microRNA in lung epithelia may protect against infection and viral propagation, conversely, low expression may confer susceptibility to infection. We have identified 128 human microRNA with potential to target the SARS-CoV-2 genome, most of which have very low expression in lung epithelia. Six of these 128 microRNA are differentially expressed upon in vitro infection of SARS-CoV-2. Additionally, 28 microRNA also target the SARS-CoV genome while 23 microRNA target the MERS-CoV genome. We also found that a number of microRNA are commonly identified in two other studies. Further research into identifying bona fide coronavirus targeting microRNA will be useful in understanding the importance of microRNA as a cellular defence mechanism against pathogenic coronavirus infections.
Highlights
On March 11 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak due to the novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a pandemic.SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which is characterized by severe respiratory illness [1] and cardiovascular disease [2]
The 128 miRNA were predicted to have a total of 226 miRNA response element (MRE) in SARS-CoV-2 (Table 1.)
We suggest that the low expression and lack of differential expression of miRNA
Summary
On March 11 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak due to the novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which is characterized by severe respiratory illness [1] and cardiovascular disease [2]. Since the declaration of the pandemic, there has been an enormous effort to develop vaccines and treatments. Many antiviral drugs approved for other viral infections are under investigation for repurposing for COVID-19, including hydroxychloroquine and remdesivir [3]. Antibody-based treatments are being investigated as potential drug candidates [3,4]. With no signs of the virus slowing to date, there is an urgent need to develop vaccines, novel drug therapies and new strategies to combat this and future pandemics due to coronaviruses
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