Transcriptome-wide N6-methyladenosine modification profiling of long non-coding RNAs during replication of Marek’s disease virus in vitro

Abstract

Background

The newly discovered reversible N6-methyladenosine (m⁶A) modification plays an important regulatory role in gene expression. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) participate in Marek’s disease virus (MDV) replication but how m⁶A modifications in lncRNAs are affected during MDV infection is currently unknown. Herein, we profiled the transcriptome-wide m⁶A modification in lncRNAs in MDV-infected chicken embryo fibroblast (CEF) cells.

Results

Methylated RNA immunoprecipitation sequencing results revealed that the lncRNA m⁶A modification is highly conserved with MDV infection increasing the expression of lncRNA m⁶A modified sites compared to uninfected cell controls. Gene Ontology and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analysis revealed that lncRNA m⁶A modifications were highly associated with signaling pathways associated with MDV infection.

Conclusions

In this study, the alterations seen in transcriptome-wide m⁶A occurring in lncRNAs following MDV-infection suggest this process plays important regulatory roles during MDV replication. We report for the first time profiling of the alterations in transcriptome-wide m⁶A modification in lncRNAs of MDV-infected CEF cells.