Transcriptomic Analysis Of circRNAs/miRNAs/mRNAs upon Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection

Human circular RNAs can function in competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network by sponging miRNA and regulating gene expression. Viruses are evolved to regulate noncoding RNAs such as miRNAs and circRNAs to facilitate their propagation and pathogenesis. Studies on how host ceRNAs upon human coronavirus infection were scarce, and the functions of circRNAs during the infection of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) has not been deeply revealed. Therefore, we conducted a whole transcriptional profile (RNA-seq) analysis to compare the expression of circRNAs, miRNAs and mRNAs between the mock-infected and MERS-CoV-infected human lung adenocarcinoma (Calu-3) cells. Integrated analysis of ceRNAs revealed putative viral pathogenic circRNAs induced by MERS-CoV and their interplay with miRNAs and genes. Our study offered new insights into the mechanisms of interplays of MERS-CoVs and hosts, and established a model promising to be applied to other coronavirus or other viruses for the identification of novel host factors. Overall design: The expression of cirRNA, miRNA and mRNA were examined in triplicate samples of Middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infected (6hpi and 24hpi) and mock infected human lung adenocarcinoma (Calu-3) cells. A mRNA library, a small RNA library and an Ribodepleted, RNase R treated circRNA library were constructed, followed by deep sequencing on Illumina Hiseq X-Ten platform.