miR-142-5p Disrupts Neuronal Morphogenesis Underlying Porcine Hemagglutinating Encephalomyelitis Virus Infection by Targeting Ulk1

Li, Zi; Lan, Yungang; Zhao, Kui; Lv, Xiaoling; Ding, Ning; Lu, Huijun; Zhang, Jing; Yue, Huiqing; Shi, Junchao; Song, Deguang; Gao, Feng; He, Wenqi

The discovery of microRNAs has greatly expanded our understanding of the cellular mechanism that regulates gene expression via base pairing with mRNAs (Ambros, 2004; Bartel, 2004) . Studies on microRNA:mRNA interaction networks have uncovered a notable role of the microRNA system in the pathogenesis of RNA viruses: many viruses exploit their host pathways by destroying, boosting, or hijacking microRNAs to benefit the viral life cycle (Linnstaedt et al., 2010; Luna et al., 2015) . For example, Trobaugh et al. (2014) noted that the North American eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) adapts to use the antiviral properties of vertebrate miR-142-3p to limit replication in particular cell types, a restriction that can lead to exacerbation of disease severity. As for PHEV, the single-stranded RNA virus causes nervous system dysfunction in suckling piglets or mice, and the infection locus encodes huge differentially expressed microRNAs. Given that, biochemical and genetic studies have revealed that dysregulation of microRNA expressed in neurological dysfunction and virus progression (Yu et al., 2015; Kadri et al., 2016) , and that the microRNA is significantly altered in a subset of patients with neuroAIDS, traumatic brain injury (TBI), epilepsy (Winkler et al., 2012; Wang et al., 2015) . Investigating the microRNA profiling underlying PHEV infection, and determining the role of microRNA system in PHE may provide insight into temporal, geographical, and individual host variations in potential CNS injury diseases. Of these microRNAs identified by microarray, we found that miR-142-5p was highly induced after PHEV infection. Nevertheless, even if miR-142-5p might control translation of nerve injury associated mRNAs in PHE have yet to be investigated.