Distinct negative-sense RNA viruses induce a common set of transcripts encoding proteins forming an extensive...

Area of Science:

• Virology
• Genomics
• Immunology

Background:

• Negative-strand RNA viruses (NSVs) are a significant group of pathogens with diverse virulence.
• Understanding conserved host responses to NSV infection is crucial for developing effective countermeasures.
• Previous studies have explored host-pathogen interactions, but a systematic comparison across multiple NSVs is lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically compare host cellular RNA level changes induced by nine different NSVs in human hepatoma cells.
• To identify conserved host RNA patterns regulated by various NSVs, irrespective of their virulence.
• To develop a tool for visualizing and analyzing these host-pathogen interactions.

Main Methods:

• Infection of human hepatoma cells with nine distinct NSVs.
• RNA sequencing to quantify viral and host cellular RNA levels.
• Time-resolved differential gene expression analysis to identify commonly regulated RNAs.

Main Results:

• Viral RNA load correlates with the number of differentially expressed host cell transcripts.
• A core set of 178 host RNAs are commonly regulated by all analyzed NSVs.
• These commonly regulated genes are involved in signal transduction, immunity, metabolism, and cell survival, with many forming a potential regulatory network.

Conclusions:

• NSV infection elicits conserved host RNA responses, highlighting key cellular pathways involved in antiviral defense and cellular homeostasis.
• A significant portion of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) encode proteins with known roles in viral infection regulation, suggesting a central host control mechanism.
• The developed open-access web application provides a valuable resource for researchers to explore and compare NSV-induced host gene expression patterns.