LincRNA_XR209691.3 could promote Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus replication by interacting with BmHSP70

Abstract

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), a class of transcripts exceeding 200 nucleotides and lacking protein coding potential, have been proven to play important roles in viral infection and host immunity. Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) is an important pathogen, which causes the silkworm disease and leads to a huge challenge to the sericultural industry. At present, research on the roles of insect lncRNAs in host-virus interaction are relatively few. In this study, we explored the function of lincR-NA_XR209691.3 that was significantly up-regulated in the silkworm fat body upon BmNPV infection. Firstly, the subcellular localization experiment confirmed that lincR-NA_XR209691.3 was present in both the nucleus and cytoplasm. Enhancing the expression of lincRNA_XR209691.3 in BmN cells could promote the proliferation of BmNPV, while inhibition of lincRNA_XR209691.3 by RNA interference suppresses the proliferation of BmNPV. Combining RNA pull-down and mass spectrometry, we identified the host and BmNPV proteins that could interact with lincRNA_XR209691.3. Next, by using truncation experiment and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay, it was found that lincR-NA_XR209691.3 could bind to the Actin domain of BmHSP70. Subsequently, overexpression of lncRNA_XR209691.3 in BmN cells promoted the expression of BmHSP70, while knockdown of BmHsp70 suppressed the replication of BmNPV. Based on the above results, it is speculated that lincRNA_XR209691.3 could promote the proliferation of BmNPV through interaction with BmHSP70, possibly by improving the stability of BmHSP70 and thereby enhancing the expression of BmHSP70. Our results shed light on the lncRNA function in insect-pathogen interactions and provide a new clue to elucidate the molecular mechanism of BmNPV infection.

The lncRNA-mediated ceRNA network of Altica viridicyanea is involved in the regulation of the Toll/Imd signaling pathway under antibiotic treatment

“…A. viridicyanea serves as a good material for investigating the adaptive evolution between insects and host plants. However, there have been few studies on the innate immunity of A. viridicyanea due to the lack of an adaptive immune system, which mainly depends on nonspecific immune responses, such as the activation of immune signaling pathways and production of antimicrobial peptides ( Lin et al, 2022 ; Wei et al, 2022 ). LncRNAs, incapable of translation into proteins, are significant regulators that regulate gene expression and are involved in various physiological and immunological functions at the transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels, such as the lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA axis based on the competitive endogenous RNA hypothesis ( Zhang et al, 2020 ; Lin et al, 2022 ).…”

“…However, there have been few studies on the innate immunity of A. viridicyanea due to the lack of an adaptive immune system, which mainly depends on nonspecific immune responses, such as the activation of immune signaling pathways and production of antimicrobial peptides ( Lin et al, 2022 ; Wei et al, 2022 ). LncRNAs, incapable of translation into proteins, are significant regulators that regulate gene expression and are involved in various physiological and immunological functions at the transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels, such as the lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA axis based on the competitive endogenous RNA hypothesis ( Zhang et al, 2020 ; Lin et al, 2022 ). In the last decade, accumulating evidence has confirmed the important roles of lncRNAs in the regulation of innate immunity in insects ( Valanne et al, 2019 ; Zhang et al, 2020 ; Zhang et al, 2021a ; Moure et al, 2022 ).…”

“…To date, a growing number of lncRNAs have been reported with the development of transcriptome sequencing from various tissues or cells in insects, such as the fat body, silk gland, gonad, and cell lines ( Wu et al, 2016b ; Lin et al, 2022 ). We used the gut tissues of A. viridicyanea to carry out transcriptome sequencing in this report, as it is an important digestive and immune tissue in insects.…”

Identification of long noncoding RNAs of silkworm at the early stage of Bombyx mori bidensovirus infection

“…For example, lncRNA IFITM4P acted as a positive regulator of innate antiviral immunity, involved in innate antiviral immunity, which resembled some interferon‐stimulated genes (ISGs) (Xiao et al, 2021). In our previous study, we found that cellular Lnc_209997 suppress Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) replication by targeting miR‐275‐5p and LincRNA_XR209691.3 could promote BmNPV replication by interacting with BmHSP70 (S. Lin et al, 2022; Lin, Yin, et al, 2023). Besides, we also analyzed the alteration of lncRNA expression in silkworm infected with Bombyx mori cypovirus (BmCPV) for the first time and revealed the function of LINC20486 during BmCPV infection (data not shown) (Zhang et al, 2021).…”