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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Virus and Host
doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2022.980974

Identification and Characterization of Human Cytomegalovirus-Encoded Circular RNAs

Jingui Deng1, 2, Qing Wang2, Jing Zhang2, 3, 4, Yanping Ma2, 3, 4, Ying Qi2, 3, 4, Zhongyang Liu2, 3, 4, Yibo Li4, 5, Qiang Ruan2, 3, 4* and Yujing Huang2, 3, 4*
  • 1Department of Microorganism Laboratory, Shenyang Center for Disease Control and Prevention, China
  • 2Virology Laboratory, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, China
  • 3Department of Pediatrics, ShengJing Hospital of China Medical University, China
  • 4Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, China
  • 5Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Central Hospital Affiliated to Shenyang Medical College, China
Provisionally accepted:
The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Circular RNA (circRNA) exists extensively and plays essential roles in serving as microRNA (miRNA) or protein sponges and protein scaffolding in many organisms. However, the profiles and potential functions of the virus-encoded circRNA, including human cytomegalovirus (HCMV)-encoded circular RNAs, remain unclear. In the present study, the HCMV-encoded circRNAs profile in HCMV-infected human embryonic lung fibroblasts (HELF) was investigated using RNA deep sequencing and bioinformatics analysis. Highly expressed HCMV-encoded circRNAs were validated by reverse transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR) and Sanger sequencing. Subsequently, the target miRNAs of the validated circRNAs were predicted and analyzed. In total, 629 HCMV-encoded circRNAs were identified in our study. The sequence of selected HCMV-encoded circRNAs (circUS12, circUL55, and circUL89) is proved to be consistent with RNA-seq. The HCMV-encoded circRNA-miRNA network analyses revealed the potential function of HCMV-encoded circRNAs during HCMV infection in HELFs. Collectively, HCMV infection deduced abundant HCMV-associated circRNAs during infection, and the HCMV-encoded circRNAs might play important roles in benefiting HCMV infection.

Keywords: Human cytomegalovirus (hcmv), non-coding RNA, Circular RNA (circRNA), sequence, function

Received: 29 Jun 2022; Accepted: 28 Oct 2022.

Copyright: © 2022 Deng, Wang, Zhang, Ma, Qi, Liu, Li, Ruan and Huang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Prof. Qiang Ruan, Virology Laboratory, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China
Dr. Yujing Huang, Virology Laboratory, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China