Coronavirus is a family of viruses including alpha-, beta-, gamma-, delta-coronaviruses. Only alpha- and betacoronaviruses have been observed to infect humans. Past outbreaks of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, both betacoronavirus, are the result of a spillover from animals. Recently, a new strain termed SARS-CoV-2 emerged in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. Severe cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). One contributor to the development of ARDS is cytokine storm, an overwhelming inflammatory immune response. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are genetic regulatory elements that, among many functions, alter gene expression and cellular processes. lncRNAs identified to be pertinent in COVID-19 cytokine storm have the potential to serve as disease markers or drug targets. This project aims to computationally identify conserved lncRNAs potentially regulating gene expression in cytokine storm during COVID-19. We found 22 lncRNAs that can target 10 cytokines overexpressed in COVID-19 cytokine storm, 8 of which targeted two or more cytokine storm cytokines. In particular, the lncRNA non-coding RNA activated by DNA damage (NORAD), targeted five out of the ten identified cytokine storm cytokines, and is evolutionarily conserved across multiple species. These lncRNAs are ideal candidates for further in vitro and in vivo analysis.

The alpha-glucan water dikinase (GWD) enzyme catalyzes starch phosphorylation, an integral step in transitory starch degradation. The high phosphate content in stored starch has great industrial value, due to its physio–chemical properties making it more versatile, although the phosphate content of stored starch varies depending on the botanical source. In this study, we used various computational approaches to gain insights into the evolution of the GWD protein in 48 plant species with possible roles in enzyme function and alteration of phosphate content in their stored starch. Our analyses identified deleterious mutations, particularly in the highly conserved 5 aromatic amino acid residues in the dual tandem carbohydrate binding modules (CBM-45) of GWD protein in C. zofingiensis, G. hirsutum, A. protothecoides, P. miliaceum, and C. reinhardtii. These findings will inform experimental designs for simultaneous repression of genes coding for GWD and the predicted interacting proteins to elucidate the role this enzyme plays in starch degradation. Our results reveal significant diversity in the evolution of GWD enzyme across plant species, which may be evolutionarily advantageous according to the varying needs for phosphorylated stored starch between plants and environments.

Coronaviruses are RNA viruses that cause significant disease within many species, including cattle. Bovine coronavirus (BCoV) infects cattle and wild ruminants, both as a respiratory and enteric pathogen, and possesses a significant economic threat to the cattle industry. Transcription factors are proteins that activate or inhibit transcription through DNA binding and have become new targets for disease therapies. This study utilized in silico tools to identify potential transcription factors that can serve as biomarkers for regulation of BCoV pathogenesis in cattle, both for testing and treatment. A total of 11 genes were identified as significantly expressed during BCoV infection through literature searches and functional analyses. Eleven transcription factors were predicted to target those genes (AREB6, YY1, LMO2, C-Rel, NKX2-5, E47, RORAlpha1, HLF, E4BP4, ARNT, CREB). Function, network, and phylogenetic analyses established the significance of many transcription factors within the immune response. This study establishes new information on the transcription factors and genes related to host-pathogen interactome in BCoV infection, particularly transcription factors YY1, AREB6, LMO2, and NKX2, which appear to have strong potential as diagnostic markers, and YY1 as a potential target for drug therapies.

Background: Bovine mastitis is a mammary gland infectious disease caused by a variety of pathogens with a devasting economic impact worldwide. Pre- and post-transcriptional modifications, including transcription factors (TFs), altering gene expression are emerging foci of disease studies, with minimal studies revealing the importance of non-coding transcripts, like long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs). We hypothesize TFs, lncRNAs and miRNAs can modulate the immune response in bovine mastitis and can potentially serve as disease biomarkers and/or drug targets.Methods: With computational analyses, we aimed to identify candidate bovine mastitis genes and construct the networks of miRNA, lncRNA and TFs regulating the gene’s mRNA, affecting disease pathogenesis. Experimentally validated genes associated with bovine mastitis were obtained through an extensive search for significantly mentioned genes, utilizing several databases. Prediction of miRNA and lncRNA binding bovine mastitis candidate genes were performed through several algorithms and software that relied on base pair complementation, evolutionary conservation, and thermodynamic stability of binding regions. Combined interactome network of lncRNAs, miRNAs, TFs and immune gene targets were constructed.Results: Sixteen of 923 genes were found to be highly significant in bovine mastitis disease pathway including, CD4, IL-10, IFNγ, IL-4, TLR4, TNFα, and CD14. Remarkably, we found six miRNAs, two being bta-miR-223 and bta-miR-24-3p, to bind to several targets. Eight out of 22 lncRNA, such as NONBTAT027932.1 and XR_003029725.1, were identified as regulatory elements that target the genes based on the normalized binding free energies ranging from -0.1774 to -2.875. Similarly identified were 17 TFs, including JUN and CREB. Our functional and pathway analyses revealed several pathways like lipopolysaccharide-mediated signaling pathway, regulation of chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 2 production and regulation of IL-23 production among others. Conclusions: The overarching interactome in this study is the first of its kind regarding bovine mastitis, deserving further in vitro/in vivo explication for specific molecular regulatory mechanisms during bovine mastitis immune response, which could lay the foundation for development of disease markers and therapeutic intervention.