浙大首次解析病毒miRNA在体内调控宿主抗病毒细胞凋亡分子机制

病毒，尤其是DNA病毒，会产生自身的microrna(miRNA)来调控宿主和病毒基因的表达。由于其在病毒—宿主相互作用中的重要作用，近年来病毒miRNA已引起了广泛的关注与研究，然而人们对无脊椎动物病毒miRNA的了解却十分有限。至今，大多数对病毒miRNA的研究是在细胞系中进行的，但是病毒miRNA在细胞系中发挥的作用可能与其在宿主体内的作用差异巨大。

在本项研究中，浙江大学生命科学学院章晓波教授课题组首次对对虾体内的白斑综合症病毒(WSSV)编码的miRNA进行了表征分析，揭示了病毒miRNA调控宿主抗病毒的机制*，相关研究成果发表在12月刊的Journal of Virology。

研究人员采用高通量测序技术对WSSV侵染的对虾(Marsupenaeus japonicus)小RNA组进行分析(小RNA测序由联川生物提供技术服务)，并结合先前的研究数据，共鉴定出89个假定的WSSV miRNA。

利用μParaflo®微流体定制miRNA芯片分析(定制miRNA芯片合成检测由联川生物提供技术服务)和Northern杂交验证揭示出病毒miRNA的表达在对虾体内具有组织特异性。进一步实验表明，病毒miRNA WSSV-miR-N24可以靶向调控对虾的caspase 8基因，从而抑制对虾体内血细胞的凋亡。此项研究首次报道了病毒miRNA在体内调控宿主抗病毒细胞凋亡的分子机制。

原文摘要：

Involvement of viral miRNA in the regulation of antiviral apoptosis in shrimp

Tianzhi Huang, Yalei Cui and Xiaobo Zhang

Viruses, in particular DNA viruses, generate their microRNAs (miRNAs) to control expressions of host and viral genes. Due to their essential roles in virus-host interactions, viral miRNAs have attracted extensive investigations in recent years. Up to date, however, most studies on viral miRNAs are conducted in cell lines. In this study, the viral miRNAs from white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) were characterized in shrimp in vivo. On the basis of our previous study and small RNA sequencing in this study, a total of 89 putative WSSV miRNAs were identified. As revealed by miRNA microarray analysis and Northern blots, the expressions of viral miRNAs were tissue-specific in vivo. The results indicated that the viral miRNA WSSV-miR-N24 could target the shrimp caspase 8 gene, and further repressed the apoptosis of shrimp hemocytes in vivo. As a result, the WSSV copies in shrimp in vivo were significantly increased compared with the control (WSSV only). Therefore, our study presented the first report on the in vivomolecular events of viral miRNA in the antiviral apoptosis.