
Interaction of piRNA-like sequences from the 3′-UTR of SARS-CoV-2 with mRNA regions
Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs of 26-32 nt in length) regulate gene expression, epigenetics, and transcriptional and post-transcriptional processes. In humans, piRNAs are expressed in germline and somatic tissues, and generally have a uracil at the 5′-end (position +1), an adenine at the +10 position, and are 2′-O methylated at the 3′-end. Onice piRNAs form the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) with PIWI proteins, they serve as guides to find their complementary sequences of the target mRNA, thus initiating their degradation. The Wuhan patient's genome is approximately 265 nucleotides (nts) in its 3′-UTR; piRNAs-like sequences have been reported in this region. Our objective was to search, through bioinformatics, for mRNA sequences that were homologous to the reverse complementary of the previously reported piRNA-like sequences from the 3′-UTR of SARS-CoV-2, and identify the possible interaction between them.