Preprint
A putative miRNA in the spike gene of SARS-CoV-2
Coronaviruses encode ncRNAs
What is it about?
The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) encodes for a spike protein that is responsible for both attachment and membrane fusion, thereby being critical in the pathogenicity of this virus. Here, I report that a putative siRNA/miRNA localized in the spike RNA region of SARS-CoV-2 matches to the forward strand of hsa-miR-8055, a miRNA expressed during T-cell response to antigen, and also binds with perfect complementarity to its seed region
Why is it important?
This work is aiming: 1. To identify the secondary structure of the putative miRNA/siRNA 2. To determine the expression level of hsa-miR-8055 in T cells before and after virus infection 3. To design antagomirs/anti-siRNAs for the target spike RNA region 4. To show the processing of the putative viral ncRNA by Dicer or its association with Argonaute, or to demonstrate the binding between hsa-miR-8055 and the target RNA region in the spike gene of SARS-CoV-2
