Bai Yilin, Liao Yifei, Yang Shuaikang, Jin Jiaxin, Lu Wenlong, Teng Man, Luo Jun, Zhang Gaiping, Sun Aijun, Zhuang Guoqing
College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, People's Republic of China.
Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Vet Microbiol. 2022 May;268:109409. doi: 10.1016/j.vetmic.2022.109409. Epub 2022 Mar 27.
Marek's disease (MD) is a neoplastic disease of chickens caused by an avian alphaherpesvirus, Marek's disease virus (MDV, also known as Gallid alphaherpesvirus 2 [GaHV2]). A total of 14 microRNA (miRNA) precursors and 26 mature miRNAs have been identified in MDV genome, which were grouped in three distinct clusters. In recent years, our studies revealed the role of MDV encoded cluster 3 miRNAs (or miR-M8-M10) and the specific function of its three members, miR-M6, miR-M7 and miR-M10, in regulating MDV replication and pathogenesis. In this study, we characterized the unique function of the other two members, miR-M8 and miR-M13, in cluster 3 miRNAs. Our results show that miR-M8 and miR-M13 are not important for MDV plaque formation and genome replication in vitro. Animal experiment results show that deletion of miR-M8-5p and miR-M13-5p eliminates the bursa atrophy, but not thymus atrophy, of MDV inoculated chickens. In addition, we found that the survival curve and MD incidences were not affected by disruption of miR-M8 and miR-M13. Taken together, this study uncovers the unique role of miR-M8 and miR-M13 in MDV replication and pathogenesis, which filled the gap in the research of MDV encoded miRNAs.
马立克氏病（MD）是一种由禽α疱疹病毒——马立克氏病病毒（MDV，也称为鸡α疱疹病毒2 [GaHV2]）引起的鸡肿瘤性疾病。在MDV基因组中总共鉴定出14个微小RNA（miRNA）前体和26个成熟miRNA，它们被分为三个不同的簇。近年来，我们的研究揭示了MDV编码的簇3 miRNA（或miR-M8-M10）及其三个成员miR-M6、miR-M7和miR-M10在调节MDV复制和发病机制中的作用。在本研究中，我们对簇3 miRNA中的另外两个成员miR-M8和miR-M13的独特功能进行了表征。我们的结果表明，miR-M8和miR-M13对体外MDV蚀斑形成和基因组复制并不重要。动物实验结果表明，缺失miR-M8-5p和miR-M13-5p可消除接种MDV的鸡的法氏囊萎缩，但不能消除胸腺萎缩。此外，我们发现miR-M8和miR-M13的缺失对存活曲线和MD发病率没有影响。综上所述，本研究揭示了miR-M8和miR-M13在MDV复制和发病机制中的独特作用，填补了MDV编码miRNA研究中的空白。
