Abstract:
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are an extensive class of noncoding genes that regulate gene expression through
posttranscriptional repression. Given the potential for large viral genomes to encode these transcripts, we
examined the human cytomegalovirus AD169 genome for miRNAs using a bioinformatics approach. We
identified 406 potential stem-loops, of which 110 were conserved between chimpanzee cytomegalovirus and
several strains of human cytomegalovirus. Of these conserved stem-loops, 13 exhibited a significant score using
the MiRscan algorithm. Examination of total RNA from human cytomegalovirus-infected cells demonstrated
that 5 of the 13 predicted miRNAs were expressed during infection. These studies demonstrate that human
cytomegalovirus encodes multiple conserved miRNAs and suggest that human cytomegalovirus may utilize an
miRNA strategy to regulate cellular and viral gene function
