Viral miRNA adaptor differentially recruits miRNAs to target mRNAs through alternative base-pairing

HSUR2 is a viral non-coding RNA (ncRNA) that functions as a microRNA (miRNA) adaptor. HSUR2 inhibits apoptosis in infected cells by recruiting host miRNAs miR-142–3p and miR-16 to mRNAs encoding apoptotic factors. HSUR2’s target recognition mechanism is not understood. It is also unknown why HSUR2 utilizes miR-16 to downregulate only a subset of transcripts. We developed a general method for individual-nucleotide resolution RNA-RNA interaction identification by crosslinking and capture (iRICC) to identify sequences mediating interactions between HSUR2 and target mRNAs in vivo. Mutational analyses confirmed identified HSUR2-mRNA interactions and validated iRICC as a method that confidently determines sequences mediating RNA-RNA interactions in vivo. We show that HSUR2 does not display a ‘seed’ region to base-pair with most target mRNAs, but instead uses different regions to interact with different transcripts. We further demonstrate that this versatile mode of interaction via variable base-pairing provides HSUR2 with a mechanism for differential miRNA recruitment.