Downregulation of eca-mir-128 in seminal exosomes and enhanced expression of CXCL16 in the stallion reproductive tract are associated with equine arteritis virus long-term persistent infection

We have characterized miRNAs associated with equine seminal exosomes, and identified seminal exosomes eca-mir-128 to be specifically downregulated during equine arteritis virus long-term persistent infection in the reproductive tract of the stallion We have perfomed small RNAseq on 8 equine seminal exosome samples, including samples from naïve stallions (n=3), and experimentally infected with equine arteritis virus at two different time points (86 days [n=3] and 726 [n=2] days post infection). Findings were further confirmed by RT-qPCR and other experiments were performed to characterize the associateion between eca-mir-128 and the chemokine CXCL16.