The Cellular and Viral circRNAome Induced by Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a new class of noncoding RNAs that have gained increased attention. DNA virus infections have been reported to induce modifications in cellular circRNA transcriptomes and express viral circRNAs. However, the identification and expression of cellular and viral circRNAs are unknown in the context of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a human RNA virus with no effective treatments or vaccines. Here, we report a comprehensive identification of the cellular and viral circRNAs induced by RSV infection in A549 cells with high-throughput sequencing. In total, 53,719 cellular circRNAs and 2,280 differentially expressed cellular circRNAs were identified. Trend analysis further identified three significant expression pattern clusters, which were related to the antiviral immune response according to gene enrichment analysis. Subsequent results showed that not only RSV infection but also poly(I·C) treatment and another RNA virus infection induced the upregulation of the top 10 circRNAs from the focused cluster. The top 10 circRNAs generally inhibit RSV replication in turn. Moreover, 1,254 viral circRNAs were identified by the same circRNA sequencing. The induced expression of viral circRNAs by RSV infection was found not only in A549 cells but also in HEp-2 cells. Additionally, we profiled the general characteristics of both cellular and viral circRNAs such as back-splicing signals, etc. Collectively, RSV infection induced the differential expression of cellular circRNAs, some of which affected RSV infection, and RSV also expressed viral circRNAs. Our study reveals novel layers of host-RSV interactions and identifies cellular or viral circRNAs that may be novel therapeutic targets or biomarkers.