Host long noncoding RNA (lncRNAs) is considered to be a new breakthrough to reveal the potential mechanism of virus-host interaction. It has been reported that hundreds of lncRNAs were differentially expressed during the influenza A virus (IAV) infection. Most of these studied lncRNAs are involved in host antiviral innate immunity and virus escape by regulating host immune response. However, it remains largely unexplored how viruses exploit interferon-independent host lncRNAs to facilitate viral replication.

On June 11, 2019, Shan Cen group published the research paper entitled ”Influenza virus exploits an interference independent lncRNA to preserve viral RNA synthesis through stabilizing viral RNA polymerase PB1”in  Cell Reports , and first identified the novel mechanism of interferon-independent host lncRNA IPAN regulating influenza virus replication.

In this work, researchers first performed a loss-of-function high-throughput screen using esiRNA library targeting human lncRNAs by IAV inducible reporter system and discovered a group of lncRNAs that modulate IAV replication. Among them, IPAN is specifically induced by IAV infection independently of interferon, and binds to and stabilizes viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase PB1, enabling efficient viral RNA synthesis and viral replication.

In this work, researchers first performed a loss-of-function high-throughput screen using esiRNA library targeting human lncRNAs by IAV inducible reporter system and discovered a group of lncRNAs that modulate IAV replication. Among them, IPAN is specifically induced by IAV infection independently of interferon, and binds to and stabilizes viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase PB1, enabling efficient viral RNA synthesis and viral replication.

This study first unveils an important role of host lncRNAs in promoting virus replication by regulating viral protein stability, and provides a new idea for further investigation about the biological function of lncRNAs in virus-host interaction.

Professor Cen Shan and associate professor Li Xiaoyu in Institute of Medicinal Biotechnology are the co-corresponding authors, and assistant professor Dr. Wang Jing and Dr. Zhang Yongxin are the co-first authors in the ariticle.

Orginal article： https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2019.05.036