Expression and Function of MicroRNAs in Viruses Great and Small
- *Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Departments of Microbiology and Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, California 94143
- †Transcription Laboratory, Cancer Research UK London Research Institute, London WC2A 3PX, United Kingdom
- ‡Department of Microbiology, Pennsylvania State University Medical Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania
- ¶University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Abstract
Since they employ host gene expression machinery to execute their genetic programs, it is no surprise that DNA viruses alsoencode miRNAs. The small size of viral genomes, and the high degree of understanding of the functions of their gene products,make them particularly favorable systems for the examination of miRNA biogenesis and function. Here we review ourcomputational and array-based approaches for viral miRNA discovery, and we discuss the structure and function of miRNAsidentified by these approaches in polyomaviruses and herpesviruses.
Footnotes
- Copyright 2006, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
