Production of Virus-Derived Ping-Pong-Dependent piRNA-like Small RNAs in the Mosquito Soma

The natural maintenance cycles of many mosquito-borne pathogens require establishment of persistent non-lethal infections in the invertebrate host. The mechanism by which this occurs is not well understood, but we have previously shown that an antiviral response directed by small interfering RNAs (s...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:PLoS pathogens Vol. 8; no. 1; p. e1002470
Main Authors: Morazzani, Elaine M., Wiley, Michael R., Murreddu, Marta G., Adelman, Zach N., Myles, Kevin M.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States Public Library of Science 01.01.2012
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects:
Alphavirus
Alphavirus - physiology
Alphavirus Infections - genetics
Alphavirus Infections - metabolism
Animals
Anopheles
Aquatic insects
Biology
Cell Line
Culicidae
Health aspects
Insect Proteins - genetics
Insect Proteins - metabolism
Insects
Insects as carriers of disease
Interspersed Repetitive Sequences
Mosquitoes
Pathogenesis
Physiological aspects
Proteins
Ribonuclease III - genetics
Ribonuclease III - metabolism
Ribonucleic acid
RNA
RNA, Small Interfering - biosynthesis
RNA, Small Interfering - genetics
RNA, Viral - biosynthesis
RNA, Viral - genetics
Viral infections
Virus Replication - physiology
Viruses
United States
ISSN:1553-7374, 1553-7366, 1553-7374
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The natural maintenance cycles of many mosquito-borne pathogens require establishment of persistent non-lethal infections in the invertebrate host. The mechanism by which this occurs is not well understood, but we have previously shown that an antiviral response directed by small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) is important in modulating the pathogenesis of alphavirus infections in the mosquito. However, we report here that infection of mosquitoes with an alphavirus also triggers the production of another class of virus-derived small RNAs that exhibit many similarities to ping-pong-dependent piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs). However, unlike ping-pong-dependent piRNAs that have been described previously from repetitive elements or piRNA clusters, our work suggests production in the soma. We also present evidence that suggests virus-derived piRNA-like small RNAs are capable of modulating the pathogenesis of alphavirus infections in dicer-2 null mutant mosquito cell lines defective in viral siRNA production. Overall, our results suggest that a non-canonical piRNA pathway is present in the soma of vector mosquitoes and may be acting redundantly to the siRNA pathway to target alphavirus replication.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
content type line 23
Conceived and designed the experiments: EMM MRW ZNA KMM. Performed the experiments: EMM MRW MGM. Analyzed the data: EMM MRW MGM ZNA KMM. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: EMM MRW MGM ZNA KMM. Wrote the paper: EMM KMM.
ISSN:1553-7374
1553-7366
1553-7374
DOI:10.1371/journal.ppat.1002470