Skip to main content
ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Animal Disease Center » Virus and Prion Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #357373
Research Project: Intervention Strategies to Control Endemic and New and Emerging Viral Diseases of Swine

Location: Virus and Prion Research

Title: Effect of miRNA and tRNA gene expression on the homeostatic status of pigs infected with highly pathogenic PRRSV

Author
item FLEMING, DAMARIUS - Orise Fellow
item Miller, Laura

Submitted to: Plant and Animal Genome Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/29/2017
Publication Date: 1/13/2018
Citation: Fleming, D.S., Miller, L.C. 2018. Effect of miRNA and tRNA gene expression on the homeostatic status of pigs infected with highly pathogenic PRRSV[abstract]. Plant and Animal Genome Conference. p. 453.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: It has been established that reduced susceptibility to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) has a genomic component. This component, however, is a multi-faceted composition of coding and non-coding genetic elements that function as regulators of immune function. Our study focuses on the small non-coding (sncRNA) side of this response in pigs because of emergence of various sncRNAs shown to play important roles in the human viral immunity. Among these sncRNAs are the microRNA (miRNA) and transfer RNA (tRNA) molecules. Our study looks at changes in expression of these sncRNAs to produce information on how gene function in the pig can become dysregulated and subsequently respond to the virus. The objective of the study is to identify differences in miRNA and tRNA gene expression between healthy and highly pathogenic PRRSV challenged pigs. The study was conducted using total RNA extracted from pig whole blood taken from a total of 24 pigs split into either control (sham inoculation) or infected pigs at 1, 3, and 8 days post infection. Sequencing of the samples produced 100bp single end libraries for transcriptomic analysis of sncRNA gene expression. The results indicated statistically significant changes in sncRNA expression were dependent on time and treatment, in which, miRNA expression was variable while tRNA expression declined steadily post-infection. The results of this study highlights changes in sncRNA expression that have the potential to unlock new targets for understanding the effect of PRRSV on pig homeostasis.