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Updated: Dec 18, 2025

Bacterial Artificial Chromosomes: A Functional Genomics Tool for the Study of Positive-strand RNA Viruses
Published on: December 29, 2015
Small double-stranded RNA with anti-HIV activity abundantly produced by Bacillus subtilis MTCC5480 isolated from
Imrat1, Rajendra Kumar Labala2, Shilpa Velhal3
1Microbial Resources Division, Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD), Takyelpat Institutional Area, Imphal 795001, Manipur, India; Department of Biotechnology, Gauhati University, Guwahati 781014, Assam, India.
Abstract:
Anti-viral RNA therapy is on high demand nowadays due to the emergence of several new viral infections. The small non-coding regulatory RNAs (dsRNA) from the microbial sources are not yet explored for anti-viral activity. In this study, we assessed the anti-HIV activity of the small dsRNA produced by 12 different microbial species isolated from naturally fermented foods of North-East India. For this, we selectively extracted the dsRNA from the microbial culture, confirmed its double-stranded nature by immunoblotting, and deep sequenced the cDNA library using Illumina platform. Further, we used conventional algorithms to predict the potential targets of the dsRNA sequences within the 3'-UTR region of HIV-1. A small dsRNA fragment with 34 bases in size with a sequence of 3'-UUGGUACACGAGAUGGUUCGACUCGAUGAAGGGC-5' produced abundantly (9.17% of the total dsRNA fraction) by Bacillus subtilis MTCC5480 showed a much higher base complementarity values than previously reported miRNAs analysed against HIV-1. We separated the dsRNA fraction and validated the anti-HIV activity against human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) infected with JRCSF strain of HIV-1 virus and the EC50 value ranges from 0.2-0.3 μM. This small dsRNA abundantly produced by B. subtilis could be studied further for its application as an anti-viral therapeutic agent.
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