Cayatineto H W, Hakim S T
Hakim's Lab, Department of Biology, School of STEM, Diné College, Tuba City, AZ, United States.
Front Bioinform. 2025 Jan 14;4:1487292. doi: 10.3389/fbinf.2024.1487292. eCollection 2024.
Flaviviridae comprise a group of enveloped, positive-stranded RNA viruses that are mainly transmitted through either mosquitoes or tick bites and/or contaminated blood, blood products, or other body secretions. These viruses cause diseases ranging from mild to severe and are considered important human pathogens. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding molecules involved in growth, development, cell proliferation, protein synthesis, apoptosis, and pathogenesis. These small molecules are even being used as gene suppressors in antiviral therapeutics, inhibiting viral replication. In the current study, we used bioinformatic tools to predict a possible miRNA sequence that could be complementary to the nucleocapsid (NP) and/or capsid (CP) gene of the Flaviviridae family and provide an inhibitory solution.
Bioinformatics is a field of science that includes tremendous computational analysis, logarithms, and sequence alignments. To predict the right alignments between miRNA and viral mRNA genomes, we used computational databases such as miRBase, NCBI, and Basic Alignment Search Tool-nucleotides (BLAST-n).
Of the 2,600 mature miRNAs, hsa-miR-548d-3p revealed complementary sequences with the flavivirus capsid gene and bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) capsid gene and was selected as a possible candidate to inhibit flaviviruses.
Although more detailed and studies are required to test the possible inhibitory effects of hsa-miR-548d-3p against flaviviruses, this computational study may be the first step to study further, developing a novel therapeutic for lethal viruses within the Flaviviridae family using suggested candidate miRNAs.
黄病毒科包含一组包膜的正链RNA病毒,主要通过蚊虫叮咬或蜱叮咬和/或受污染的血液、血液制品或其他身体分泌物传播。这些病毒可引起从轻度到重度的疾病,被认为是重要的人类病原体。微小RNA(miRNA)是参与生长、发育、细胞增殖、蛋白质合成、细胞凋亡和发病机制的非编码分子。这些小分子甚至被用作抗病毒治疗中的基因抑制剂,抑制病毒复制。在本研究中,我们使用生物信息学工具预测了一种可能与黄病毒科核衣壳(NP)和/或衣壳(CP)基因互补的miRNA序列,并提供了一种抑制解决方案。
生物信息学是一个科学领域,包括大量的计算分析、对数和序列比对。为了预测miRNA与病毒mRNA基因组之间的正确比对,我们使用了诸如miRBase、NCBI和基本比对搜索工具-核苷酸(BLAST-n)等计算数据库。
在2600个成熟miRNA中,hsa-miR-548d-3p显示出与黄病毒衣壳基因和牛病毒性腹泻病毒(BVDV)衣壳基因的互补序列,并被选为抑制黄病毒的可能候选物。
尽管需要更详细的研究来测试hsa-miR-548d-3p对黄病毒的可能抑制作用,但这项计算研究可能是进一步研究的第一步,利用建议的候选miRNA开发针对黄病毒科致死病毒的新型疗法。