microRNA Targetome Analysis of Latently KSHV-infected Primary Effusion Lymphoma Cell lines Using PAR-CLIP [Illumina]

Primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) is caused by Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) and frequently also harbors Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). The expression of KSHV- and, often, EBV-encoded microRNAs (miRNAs) in PELs suggests a role for these miRNAs in viral latency and lymphomagenesis. Here we report the direct and transcriptome-wide identification of miRNA target sites for all miRNAs expressed in PEL cell lines. The resulting dataset revealed that KSHV miRNAs directly target more than 2000 cellular mRNAs encoding proteins that function in pathways with relevance to KSHV pathogenesis. Moreover, ~50% of these mRNAs are also targeted by EBV miRNAs, via distinct binding sites. In addition to a known viral analog of miR-155, we show that KSHV encodes a viral miRNA that mimics cellular miR-142-3p function. In summary, these experiments identify an extensive list of mRNAs targeted by KSHV miRNAs and indicate that these are likely to strongly influence viral replication and pathogenesis. small RNA sequencing, 3 samples Ago2 (EIF2C2) PAR-CLIP, 2 samples