Down-Regulation of a Host MicroRNA by a Herpesvirus saimiri Noncoding RNA

Abstract

Herpes Virus MiRNA Modulation Viruses use a number of strategies to manipulate the cells of their host to ensure a successful infection. Herpesvirus saimiri (HVS) generates highly conserved small noncoding RNAs HSUR 1 and HSUR 2 , which modulate expression of a number of proteins in infected primate T cells. Cazalla et al. (p. 1563 ; see the Perspective by Pasquinelli ) observed complementarity between HSUR sequences and the seed regions of three different miRNAs—miR-142-3p, miR-27, and miR-16—and found that these HSURs could bind to the miRNAs. Furthermore, the level of mature miR-27 was modulated by binding to HSUR 1 , which targeted the miRNA for degradation.