A herpesvirus microRNA targets host microRNA processing to promote virus reactivation from latency [Lytic infection]

In a major study, we found that miR-aU14, a potential miRNA expressed by human herpesvirus 6A (HHV-6A), acts to selectively inhibit the processing of members of the human miR-30 family through direct RNA:RNA interaction and causes changes in mitochondrial arcchitecture through p53-Drp1 axis. In order to characterize miR-aU14 during virus reactivation, we carried out small RNA-seq from U2-OS cells carrying latent HHV-6A. Virus reactivation was carried out using 80 ng/ml of Trichostatin-A (TSA). Overall design: HSB-2 cells were infected with HHV-6A. To study Argonaut bound miRNAs, Ago2 immunoprecipitation was carried out.