Elsevier

Virology

Volume 544, May 2020, Pages 21-30
Virology

Transcription profile of human endogenous retroviruses in response to dengue virus serotype 2 infection

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.virol.2020.01.014Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • Amounts of HERV loci were significantly differentially expressed in DENV-2 infection.

  • The DEHERV loci were highly concentrated at the transcription units of human genes.

  • The expression patterns of DEHERV were consistent with that of their nearby human genes.

  • The differentially expressed genes nearby DEHERV upon DENV-2 infection were associated with antiviral immune response.

Abstract

Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs), the remains of retroviruses infection in our ancestors’ germline cell over millions of years, take up about 8% of the human genome in total. HERV transcription has been detected in various cancers and diseases. However, the interaction between HERV expression and viral infection has not been fully elucidated. Here, we provided the first transcriptional profile of HERVs in dengue virus serotype 2 (DENV-2) infected A549 cells by using high-throughput RNA sequencing. The results showed that a number of HERVs and human genes were significantly differentially expressed in response to DENV-2 infection. Further bioinformatic analyses indicated a correlation between HERVs and human genes. In particular, the genes near the HERVs activated by dengue infection were dominantly enriched in the antiviral immune response. Taken together, our findings suggest that activated HERVs may be involved in the cellular immune response to viral infection by coexpressing with nearby host genes.

Keywords

Human endogenous retroviruses
DENV-2 infection
RNA sequencing
Coexpression

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These authors have contributed equally to this work.