Degradation of cellular miR-27 by a novel, highly abundant viral transcript is important for efficient virus replication in vivo.

ABSTRACT: Cytomegaloviruses express large amounts of viral miRNAs during lytic infection, yet, they only modestly alter the cellular miRNA profile. The most prominent alteration upon lytic murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) infection is the rapid degradation of the cellular miR-27a and miR-27b. Here, we report that this regulation is mediated by the <1.7 kb spliced and highly abundant MCMV m169 transcript. Specificity to miR-27a/b is mediated by a single, apparently optimized, miRNA binding site located in its 3'-UTR. This site is easily and efficiently retargeted to other cellular and viral miRNAs by target site replacement. Expression of the 3'-UTR of m169 by an adenoviral vector was sufficient to mediate its function, indicating that no other viral factors are essential in this process. Degradation of

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

SUBMITTER: SM-CM-)bastien Pfeffer 

PROVIDER: E-GEOD-34475 | biostudies-arrayexpress |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress