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Yang S, Cao D, Jaijyan DK, Wang M, Liu J, Cruz-Cosme R, Wu S, Huang J, Zeng M, Liu X, Sun W, Xiong D, Tang Q, Xiao L, Zhu H. Identification and characterization of Varicella Zoster Virus circular RNA in lytic infection. Nat Commun 2024; 15:4932. [PMID: 38858365 PMCID: PMC11164961 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49112-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2023] [Accepted: 05/17/2024] [Indexed: 06/12/2024] Open
Abstract
This study investigates the role of circular RNAs (circRNAs) in the context of Varicella-Zoster Virus (VZV) lytic infection. We employ two sequencing technologies, short-read sequencing and long-read sequencing, following RNase R treatment on VZV-infected neuroblastoma cells to identify and characterize both cellular and viral circRNAs. Our large scanning analysis identifies and subsequent experiments confirm 200 VZV circRNAs. Moreover, we discover numerous VZV latency-associated transcripts (VLTs)-like circRNAs (circVLTslytic), which contain multiple exons and different isoforms within the same back-splicing breakpoint. To understand the functional significance of these circVLTslytic, we utilize the Bacteria Artificial Chromosome system to disrupt the expression of viral circRNAs in genomic DNA location. We reveal that the sequence flanking circVLTs' 5' splice donor plays a pivotal role as a cis-acting element in the formation of circVLTslytic. The circVLTslytic is dispensable for VZV replication, but the mutation downstream of circVLTslytic exon 5 leads to increased acyclovir sensitivity in VZV infection models. This suggests that circVLTslytic may have a role in modulating the sensitivity to antiviral treatment. The findings shed new insight into the regulation of cellular and viral transcription during VZV lytic infection, emphasizing the intricate interplay between circRNAs and viral processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shaomin Yang
- Department of Pain Medicine and Shenzhen Municipal Key Laboratory for Pain Medicine, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Union Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, China
- Guangdong Key Laboratory for Biomedical Measurements and Ultrasound Imaging, National-Regional Key Technology Engineering Laboratory for Medical Ultrasound, School of Biomedical Engineering, Shenzhen University Medical School, Shenzhen, 518060, China
| | - Di Cao
- Department of Pain Medicine and Shenzhen Municipal Key Laboratory for Pain Medicine, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Union Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, China
| | - Dabbu Kumar Jaijyan
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers University, 225 Warren Street, Newark, NJ, 070101, USA
| | - Mei Wang
- Institute of Medical Microbiology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510632, China
| | - Jian Liu
- School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Minnan Normal University, Zhangzhou, 363000, China
| | - Ruth Cruz-Cosme
- Department of Microbiology, Howard University College of Medicine, 520 W Street NW, Washington, DC, 20059, USA
| | - Songbin Wu
- Department of Pain Medicine and Shenzhen Municipal Key Laboratory for Pain Medicine, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Union Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, China
| | - Jiabin Huang
- Department of Pain Medicine and Shenzhen Municipal Key Laboratory for Pain Medicine, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Union Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, China
| | - Mulan Zeng
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers University, 225 Warren Street, Newark, NJ, 070101, USA
| | - Xiaolian Liu
- Institute of Medical Microbiology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510632, China
| | - Wuping Sun
- Department of Pain Medicine and Shenzhen Municipal Key Laboratory for Pain Medicine, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Union Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, China
| | - Donglin Xiong
- Department of Pain Medicine and Shenzhen Municipal Key Laboratory for Pain Medicine, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Union Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, China
| | - Qiyi Tang
- Department of Microbiology, Howard University College of Medicine, 520 W Street NW, Washington, DC, 20059, USA.
| | - Lizu Xiao
- Department of Pain Medicine and Shenzhen Municipal Key Laboratory for Pain Medicine, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Union Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, China.
| | - Hua Zhu
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers University, 225 Warren Street, Newark, NJ, 070101, USA.
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Caminati G, Procacci P. Mounting evidence of FKBP12 implication in neurodegeneration. Neural Regen Res 2020; 15:2195-2202. [PMID: 32594030 PMCID: PMC7749462 DOI: 10.4103/1673-5374.284980] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2020] [Revised: 02/18/2020] [Accepted: 03/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Intrinsically disordered proteins, such as tau or α-synuclein, have long been associated with a dysfunctional role in neurodegenerative diseases. In Alzheimer's and Parkinson's' diseases, these proteins, sharing a common chemical-physical pattern with alternating hydrophobic and hydrophilic domains rich in prolines, abnormally aggregate in tangles in the brain leading to progressive loss of neurons. In this review, we present an overview linking the studies on the implication of the peptidyl-prolyl isomerase domain of immunophilins, and notably FKBP12, to a variety of neurodegenerative diseases, focusing on the molecular origin of such a role. The involvement of FKBP12 dysregulation in the aberrant aggregation of disordered proteins pinpoints this protein as a possible therapeutic target and, at the same time, as a predictive biomarker for early diagnosis in neurodegeneration, calling for the development of reliable, fast and cost-effective detection methods in body fluids for community-based screening campaigns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriella Caminati
- Department of Chemistry “Ugo Schiff”, University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
- Center for Colloid and Surface Science (CSGI), University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
| | - Piero Procacci
- Department of Chemistry “Ugo Schiff”, University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
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