In BriefZhao et al. identify microRNA-222 as a mediator of mitochondrial dysfunction, THBS1, and CD47 induced during TGEV infection and showed that mi-croRNA-222 inhibits TGEV-induced mitochondrial dysfunction via targeting and downregulating CD47.
Graphical Abstract
Highlights• microRNA-222 attenuates TGEV-induced mitochondrial dysfunction.• microRNA-222 downregulates THBS1 and CD47.• THBS1 is the target of microRNA-222 during TGEV infection.• THBS1 and CD47 increase mitochondrial Ca 2ϩ level and reduced mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP).
Transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV) is a member of Coronaviridae family. Our previous research showed that TGEV infection could induce mitochondrial dysfunction and upregulate miR-222 level. Therefore, we presumed that miR-222 might be implicated in regulating mitochondrial dysfunction induced by TGEV infection. To verify the hypothesis, the effect of miR-222 on mitochondrial dysfunction was tested and we showed that miR-222 attenuated TGEV-induced mitochondrial dysfunction. To investigate the underlying molecular mechanism of miR-222 in TGEV-induced mitochondrial dysfunction, a quantitative proteomic analysis of PK-15 cells that were transfected with miR-222 mimics and infected with TGEV was per-formed. In total, 4151 proteins were quantified and 100 differentially expressed proteins were obtained (57 upregulated, 43 downregulated), among which thrombospondin-1 (THBS1) and cluster of differentiation 47 (CD47) were downregulated. THBS1 was identified as the target of miR-222. Knockdown of THBS1 and CD47 decreased mitochondrial Ca 2؉ level and increased mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) level. Reversely, overexpression of THBS1 and CD47 elevated mitochondrial Ca 2؉ level and reduced mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) level. Together, our data establish a significant role of miR-222 in regulating mitochondrial dysfunction in response to TGEV infection.