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Hereditas(Beijing) ›› 2021, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (11): 1088-1100.doi: 10.16288/j.yczz.21-164

• Orginal Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Analysis of microRNA expression profile in Emiliania huxleyi in response to virus infection

Enquan Zhang(), Weicong Cai, Guiling Li, Jian Li, Jingwen Liu()   

  1. College of Food and Bioengineering, Jimei University, Xiamen 361021, China
  • Received:2021-04-30 Revised:2021-07-14 Online:2021-11-20 Published:2021-07-29
  • Contact: Liu Jingwen E-mail:chriszhangen@163.com;ljwsbch@163.com
  • Supported by:
    Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China Nos(42076086);Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China Nos(31771972);Fujian Province Natural Science Foundation of China Nos(2019J01696);Fujian Province Natural Science Foundation of China Nos(2020J01676)

Abstract:

The interactions between Emiliania huxleyi and E. huxleyi virus (EhV) regulate marine carbon and sulfur biogeochemical cycle and play a prominent role in global climate change. As a large DNA virus, EhVs have developed a novel “virocell metabolism” model to meet their higher metabolic needs. However, the regulatory mechanism of this metabolic model is still largely unclear. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) can regulate biological pathways through targeting hub genes in the metabolic processes. Here, we performed high-throughput small RNA sequencing to analyse miRNA expression in EhV99B1 infected E. huxleyi BOF92. A total of 26 miRNAs (including 2 virus-derived miRNAs) were identified, including four up-regulated and one down-regulated miRNAs. These results were further validated through quantitative real-time PCR. Functional enrichment analysis showed that five differentially-expressed miRNAs might be involved in the regulation of carbohydrate metabolism, lipid metabolism and amino acid metabolism. Moreover, the expression levels of differentially-expressed miRNAs were negatively correlated with that of several lipid metabolism-related genes, such as ACC-1, SPT, ACOX, ACAT, CERS and ACADS, indicating that these miRNAs might play an important regulatory role in virus-mediated lipid metabolism.

Key words: Emiliania huxleyi, Emiliania huxleyi virus, small RNA sequencing, microRNA, lipid metabolism