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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Animal Disease Center » Virus and Prion Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #353634
Research Project: Intervention Strategies to Control Endemic and New and Emerging Viral Diseases of Swine

Location: Virus and Prion Research

Title: e-PIG-enetics: porcine miRNA and tRNA expression during highly pathogenic PRRSV infections

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

Submitted to: Plant and Animal Genome Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/18/2018
Publication Date: 5/30/2018
Citation: Fleming, D.S., Miller, L.C. 2018. e-PIG-enetics: porcine miRNA and tRNA expression during highly pathogenic PRRSV infections. PAG-ASIA 2018. Abstract No. W060.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome virus (PRRSV) is a single stranded RNA virus member that infects pigs and causes losses to the commercial industry reaching upwards of a billion dollars annually in combined direct and indirect costs. The virus can be separated into etiologies that contain multiple heterologous low and highly pathogenic strains. Recently the United States has begun to see an increase in heterologous type 2 PRRSV strains of higher virulence. The high pathogenicity of these strains can drastically alter host immune responses and the ability of the animal to maintain homeostasis. The loss of homeostasis denotes underlying changes in gene and regulatory element expression profiles. What is less understood, however, are the actions of small non-coding regulatory RNAs (sncRNA) and how they influence host immunologic and metabolic functions to skew away from homeostasis during PRRSV infections. In order to investigate the impact sncRNA expression has on homeostasis, the study examined host differential expression of miRNA and tRNA molecules during infection with a highly pathogenic PRRSV (HP-PRRSV) strain. We accomplished this using transcriptomic analysis of whole blood taken from either control or infected pigs at several timepoints. The analysis returned a total of 149 statistically significant (FDR less than or equal to 0.15) miRNAs and tRNAs that were evaluated for possible pro and anti-viral effects. The results indicated that HP-PRRSV infection effects host homeostasis at the epigenetic level through changes in miRNA and tRNA expression that target and influence the function of host immune, metabolic, and structural pathways.