Bioinformatics-Based Analysis Provides a Deeper Understanding of How MicroRNAs Control Transcriptional Activity in Mumps Virus Infection

Mumps is a common childhood infection caused by the mumps virus (MuV). Aseptic meningitis and encephalitis are usual symptoms of mumps together with orchitis and oophoritis that can arise in males and females, respectively. We have used computational tools: RNA22, and miRanda to predict the microRNA-mRNA binding sites to find the putative microRNAs playing role in the host response to mumps virus infection. Our computational studies indicate that hsa-mir-3155a is most likely involved in mumps infection. This was further investigated by the binding sites prediction of hsa-mir-3155a to the MuV genome. Moreover, structure prediction approach has been implemented using MC-Fold and MC-Sym, respectively to predict its miRNA and mRNA 3D structures. The interaction profile between miRNA and mRNA was confirmed through molecular docking simulation studies. Taken together, putative miRNA (hsa_miR_6794_5p) has been observed to be most likely involved in the regulation of transcriptional activity in the MuV infection.