Predicting mRNA targets for HSV-1 miRNAs

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) has been reported to implicate in many human diseases. The virulence of HSV-1 and the invoked immunologic responses can be understood by studying the miRNA targets. As a regulatory gene, miRNAs were reported to involve in translational repression and mRNA cleavage. The binding of miRNA to mRNA has a consequence in the gene expression, and thus may influence the protein abundance. In this study, an in silico approach has been adopted to predict HSV-1 miRNA targets. Both seed region and miRNA 3´ base pairing have been taken into consideration for the complementarity analysis. Using our methods, 7 pairing sites have been identified for 6 HSV-1 miRNAs. Our work may shed light to the drug design and therapeutic strategies against HSV-1 infection.