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Searching for targets of viral microRNAs

Nature Genetics volume 41, pages 7–8 (2009)Cite this article

The identification of targets of virally encoded microRNAs is essential to understanding their role in the viral life cycle. A new study reports the successful use of a microarray-based approach to identify a key target of a microRNA encoded by Kaposi's sarcoma–associated herpesvirus, with implications for microRNA target identification in other contexts as well.

MicroRNAs are small noncoding RNAs that post-transcriptionally 'fine-tune' mRNA expression, and in recent years they have been discovered at an ever-increasing pace in all metazoan life forms from plants to people and, most importantly for virologists, viruses. MicroRNA profiling has made great progress in revealing a role for microRNAs in embryogenesis, cellular differentiation and cancer. Not surprisingly, the ways in which virally encoded microRNAs interact with their host cells have been a topic of intense research interest since the initial discovery of microRNAs in Epstein Barr Virus (EBV)1. This was rapidly followed by discovery of microRNAs encoded by large and small DNA viruses. Among these is Kaposi's sarcoma–associated herpesvirus (KSHV)—the causative agent of Kaposi's sarcoma, primary effusion lymphoma and multicentric Castleman's disease—for which 12 microRNAs have been identified by four independent groups2,3,4,5. Herpesviruses co-evolved with their host species and have developed complex interactions with host cells in order to maintain a lifelong latent infection. Identification of cellular targets of virally encoded microRNAs is likely to provide much additional insight into the balancing act between the virus and the host and potentially into the loss of balance that leads to disease. On page 130 of this issue, Joseph Ziegelbauer and colleagues6 outline a microarray-based approach for identifying cellular targets of viral microRNAs and use this strategy to advance our understanding of the KSHV life cycle.

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  1. Denise Whitby is in the Viral Oncology Section, AIDS and Cancer Virus Program, SAIC-Frederick, National Cancer Institute at Frederick, PO Box B, Frederick, Maryland 21701, USA. whitbyd@ncifcrf.gov,

    Denise Whitby

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Whitby, D. Searching for targets of viral microRNAs. Nat Genet 41, 7–8 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng0109-7

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