Abstract
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. Through this activity, they are implicated in almost every cellular process investigated to date. Hence, it is not surprising that miRNAs play diverse roles in regulation of viral infections and antiviral responses. Diverse families of DNA and RNA viruses have been shown to take advantage of cellular miRNAs or produce virally encoded miRNAs that alter host or viral gene expression. MiRNA-mediated changes in gene expression have been demonstrated to modulate viral replication, antiviral immune responses, viral latency, and pathogenesis. Interestingly, viruses mediate both canonical and non-canonical interactions with miRNAs to downregulate specific targets or to promote viral genome stability, translation, and/or RNA accumulation. In this review, we focus on recent findings elucidating several key mechanisms employed by diverse virus families, with a focus on miRNAs at the host–virus interface during herpesvirus, polyomavirus, retroviruses, pestivirus, and hepacivirus infections.
Highlights
MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNA molecules, typically 21 to 25 nucleotides in length, that are highly evolutionarily conserved, developmentally regulated and are expressed in a tissue-specific manner
Herpesviruses are characterized by their ability to carry out lytic replication or establish latency, and several cellular miRNAs have been implicated in this process
Since miRNAs are involved in all facets of cellular activities, they have major influences on viral infections and can both restrict or promote viral replication and pathogenesis
Summary
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA molecules, typically 21 to 25 nucleotides (nt) in length, that are highly evolutionarily conserved, developmentally regulated and are expressed in a tissue-specific manner. Since their description in the early 1990s, miRNAs have been found in over. Several types of interactions have been observed, including: cellular miRNAs directly targeting host or viral transcripts; evasion of cellular miRNAs; broad impairment of the miRNA pathway; and even virally encoded miRNAs that regulate host or viral gene expression Such interactions have been described to play crucial roles in the regulation of viral replication, maintenance of latency and/or reactivation, immune evasion, and cell transformation. We highlight recent studies elucidating the role of miRNAs at the host–virus interface, with a focus on several key canonical and non-canonical miRNA interactions that contribute to viral infection and pathogenesis in a select group of well characterized DNA and RNA viruses
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