Battle for supremacy: nucleic acid interactions between viruses and cells
Elizabeth J. Hennessy, Garret A. FitzGerald
Elizabeth J. Hennessy, Garret A. FitzGerald
Published December 8, 2020
Citation Information: J Clin Invest. 2021;131(3):e144227. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI144227.
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Review

Battle for supremacy: nucleic acid interactions between viruses and cells

Abstract

Since the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe, researchers have been trying to understand its origin, life cycle, and pathogenesis. There is a striking variability in the phenotypic response to infection with SARS-CoV-2 that may reflect differences in host genetics and/or immune response. It is known that the human epigenome is influenced by ethnicity, age, lifestyle, and environmental factors, including previous viral infections. This Review examines the influence of viruses on the host epigenome. We describe general lessons and methodologies that can be used to understand how the virus evades the host immune response. We consider how variation in the epigenome may contribute to heterogeneity in the response to SARS-CoV-2 and may identify a precision medicine approach to treatment.

Authors

Elizabeth J. Hennessy, Garret A. FitzGerald

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Figure 3

Chromatin and RNA interaction techniques can be used to uncover novel interactions with viral nucleic acids.

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Chromatin and RNA interaction techniques can be used to uncover novel in...
RNA-RNA interaction methods such as RIC-Seq can be modified to determine whether a viral RNA interacts with host RNAs like lncRNA transcripts. Overexpression of both the viral RNA and the host RNA in a target cell can identify interacting regions through proximity ligation and fragmentation followed by reverse transcription into cDNA and PCR to identify interacting sequences. Adapted with permission from Nature (62).