A Previously Undiscovered Circular RNA, circTNFAIP3, and Its Role in Coronavirus Replication
Liuyang Du, Xingbo Wang, Junli Liu, Jiarong Li, Shengnan Wang, Jing Lei, Jiyong Zhou, Jinyan Gu
Abstract
CircRNAs, a new class of ncRNAs, play important roles in cell growth, neural development, carcinogenesis, and anticarcinogenesis. Porcine deltacoronavirus is an emerging enteropathogenic coronavirus that causes diarrhea, but the role of host circRNAs in regulating its infection is unknown. Here, we performed expression profiling of circRNAs in mock- and deltacoronavirus- infected cells and identified the novel differentially expressed circular RNA circTNFAIP3. We demonstrate that circTNFAIP3 promotes deltacoronavirus replication by inhibiting apoptosis. Our findings first illustrate that circRNA can act as an apoptosis negative regulator during RNA virus infection and help to explore the underlying mechanism of deltacoronavirus infection.