MicroRNAs in avian influenza virus H9N2-infected and non-infected chicken embryo fibroblasts.

There is limited information about microRNAs (miR-NAs) in H9N2 subtype influenza virus-infected chicken cells or tissues. In this study, 10,487,469 and 13,119,795 reads were obtained from in-fected and non-infected chicken embryo fibroblasts, respectively. Seven hundred and thirty-six and 1004 miRNAs, including mature miRNAs and precursors, were obtained from the infected and non-infected fibro-blasts, respectively. Of those miRNAs, 48 were expressed differently between the groups: 37 had a low expression level in the infected chick-en embryo fibroblast, and the remaining 11 had a higher expression level. Every miRNA was predicted to target immune response-related genes. It has been found that some of the miRNAs, such as gga-miR-146c, gga-miR-181a, gga-miR-181b, gga-miR-30b, gga-miR-30c, gga-miR-30e, and gga-miR-455, are expressed differently in other types of influenza-infected chicken cells or tissues.