Evaluation of the capability of the PCV2 genome to encode miRNAs: lack of viral miRNA expression in an experimental infection

Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) is a ssDNA virus causing PCV2-systemic disease (PCV2-SD), one of the most important diseases in swine. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a new class of small non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression post-transcriptionally. Viral miRNAs have recently been described and the number of viral miRNAs has been increasing in the past few years. In this study, small RNA libraries were constructed from two tissues of subclinically PCV2 infected pigs to explore if PCV2 can encode viral miRNAs. The deep sequencing data revealed that PCV2 does not express miRNAs in an in vivo subclinical infection.This work was supported by the projects AGL2007-66371-C02 and AGL2010-22358-C02 from MINECO (Spanish government). FN-H is the recipient of a PhD fellowship FI-DGR (AGAUR) from Generalitat de Catalunya.Peer reviewe